Interview with Sanjay Bansal, interviewed by Geoffrey Jones, Kolkata, India

In this interview, Sanjay Bansal, chairman and managing director of Darjeeling Organic Tea Estates Pvt. Ltd., narrates the arc of his career--beginning with his birth on the Ambootia tea estate in 1961, through the rehabilitation of dozens of sick estates, to earning the status of one of the largest producers of organic and biodynamic Darjeeling tea in the world. Bansal begins by sharing his intimate knowledge of the Darjeeling tea industry--both as it began under the British, and it has evolved since Indian independence in 1947. He explains the deeply-ingrained, heirarchical relationship between managers and employers, sheds light on traditional farming techniques, and also discusses some of the long-term, negative social legacies of British policies on workers and their families. Although Bansal never intended to join the family business, he explains how his early years spent on the plantation--and the time he spent working for his father later on¬--perfectly positioned him not only to become a successful manager and dedicated leader, but also to work for the improvement of the lives of his workers. "Because of my local affinity," he said, "that big gap between "demigods" and the