Tea and memories
View(s):A planter’s wife takes a nostalgic journey through an era that has passed
By Duvindi Illankoon
“When I look back 50 years it is with nostalgia and yearning. How different life was then. No wars, no hardships, no struggle to live. The world seemed such a safe and secure place to live…” Samudra Ratwatte, Tea and Memories: Reminiscences of a Planter’s Wife
As a young woman hailing from Kandy, educated in Colombo and subsequently married to a planter, Samudra Ratwatte led the kind of idyllic life most of us only dream about. It’s her talent for putting down her memories that led to the publication of this memoir.
The 50’s were the heyday of plantation life, where planters’ wives presided over luxurious bungalows and spreading gardens, entertained and attended parties and lunches at home and at the club. Samudra’s husband Newell moved to Madulsima (a tea growing district in Uva) and so began an entire new chapter of her life.
Samudra admits to being a touch nervous initially about being the only Ceylonese woman amongst the other planters and their supposedly snobbish British wives. Her first foray into the estate social circles brings her face to face with these ladies, busy knitting (a serious pastime then), chatting and looking through magazines. She remembers her previous misconceptions being unfounded as they welcome her into their circle, fascinated with her saree, konde (top knot) and Kandy lamissi mannerisms.
Memories of her time at Madulsima and subsequently at Hewaheta are peppered with mouth-watering descriptions of good food. It’s almost as if her many different encounters with people from all walks of life are defined by the delicious array of food that she was presented with. For example, there’s that first meeting with her husband’s boss Tony Boyd Moss and wife Hazel, where dinner was ‘the famous English roast beef…soft baked potatoes..creamy tomato soup, fried croutons swimming at the top and for dessert, bread pudding with golden marmalade filling, fruits, nuts and black sticky caramelised sugar syrup’.
There’s her cook Kandiah whipping up fluffy cakes and soufflés; and later, when they move to Hewaheta, Sandanam, who makes Samudra’s favourite snack of a fluffy omelette filled with stewed strawberries and topped with fresh thick cream. Needless to say, don’t read the book if you’re feeling peckish!
She remembers with fondness, Budge Bickett, a ‘legend of our time in the planting world’ and Dorothy Gordon, an influential figure in the estates at a time when women were not celebrated for their business acumen.
Her memories of the time spent on plantations with her husband are filled with memorable characters such as Poodsie the Poodle (a gift from Budge). She also touches upon the eventual decline of the estate culture, when the government nationalised the tea and rubber industry. With Newell’s passing, and her son Bhathiya’s move to Colombo, Samudra became an independent woman running the ‘Ivory Inn’ though she admits to missing the peace and quiet of the estates.
There is no pulse-quickening action or passionate romance in this book but the author takes you on a nostalgic journey of her experiences as a planter’s wife in an era that has passed. Thanks to simple language and a cheerfully conversational tone this makes for perfect light reading.
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