Tea and Me

When Rod Brown’s mother spotted an advertisement in the local paper for engineers to work for a company in India and Pakistan, Rod wasn’t sure it was quite his cup of tea. But he applied anyway. After sailing through the interviews and being offered the position, he began to wonder whether this was in fact just the opportunity he needed. It was 1951. The company was Walter Duncan & Goodricke Ltd. And tea was exactly what they were about. Quitting the drudgery of an engineering apprenticeship back home in Gloucestershire, where his life was dominated by his overbearing father, Rod sailed across the world to Calcutta, India and began a new world of work in the teamaking business. He quickly discovered that life in India was much more exciting than the quiet Cotswolds. Aside from going on to become a vital cog in the tea company, Rod had encounters with tigers, leopards and poisonous snakes. He had to deal with drunken workers and noisy locals, and survived some near-fatal accidents. The dangers of Indian life did not stop Rod falling in love with India and its culture. Yet he had also fallen in love back in England before he left. He never forgot his childhood sweetheart, and returned as soon as he could to marry her. Tea and Me is Rod Brown’s story of the early years of his adventures in India and his career in tea.