Chapter 16 Ten Years In St Andrew Estate.

I was attached to S Andrew for ten years and as long as I served them those Bosses had high regards for me.But they attitude transformed drastically once I submit my resignation.All sort  of accusations the devil could think of were directed at me.All without any basic truth otherwise I would be doing the Jailhouse rock. Chinese Bosses were mostly like this.

What it was I survived.Plenty of hard work and patient dealing with them.Well being honest goes along long way.Their spies???.Never fight head on with them,as they said,"If you cannot  win them join them.Pretend to be frighten of them and strike them real hard at the correct moment".

That would certainly captivate  them with surprises and most  passed away without knowing what hit them?".Being so soft also gain you the confidence and trust of the Bosses.Crooks ought to be taught the lesson their way.Once you had the trust of the Bosses it would be plain sailing all the way.

When I took over the plantation my Senior conductor was one of the Bosses' son.Should he be efficient I could be in trouble or ever be employed by them,having him behind my back,but that was not to be.He was placed there to work under me.Unfortunately he had neither experience nor a good worker.

He was lazy and often stay around the bungalow loitering away the time.With him not knowing how to assist me in any way I just simply allow things be whatever it be One thing good about him was he was never a tale carrier but with that poor mentality and that sort of attitude,his tales were also meaningless virtually harmless.

Burden with  much work,I was forced to rely on the junior conductors.Initially I had much troubles recruiting them and training them to work the way I require them.Failing which I can further rely on the "kanganies"or "kapalas". In many cases they were served me better than the other staffs and many of them reliable.I had actually trained one and promoted him to our staff.

Junior staffs served better because they keep records which were necessary.I find it quite difficult to train them.Many left because they could not stand the pressure I mounted on I had very experienced with few of them.I remember one whom I thought quite obedient but he turned out to be quite a rogue.He absconded after working for about two years.That was after I stood guarantor  for his motor cycle.

Thereafter I had another who thought that plantation was a place where they can always sleep in the house,but with my presence almost every where he soon had a nervous breakdown and eventually had to be sent home.His brother came in to take over from where he left off.

He was  slightly a better worker than his brother.However,our water shortage problem got the better of him.Seeing the workers plight he amazingly suddenly turned saintly,wanting to champion the workers' caused.

Dressed in white clothing safron (Indian style saree for males) and with forehead brushed with ashes and red dot.Walking around with a lighted lamp,some betel eaves and a few pieces of dried betel nuts on a plate.

Acting like a "pusari"or Indian priest he gathered a huge following of workers to march to my bungalow.On arrival he cursed me and  demanded to see my well claiming that I had plenty of wholesome water while the poor poor workers were suffering from shortages.

He further abused me for bulling the poor workers and with holding back all necessary amenities for them.He acting as though he was besieged by some demons. Or he might had perceived that he was a sort of savior sent  to save the poor workers from a tyrant like me.

In raged I looked sternly at him and ordered him to inspect the well with a few workers.They went up and found my well empty and dry.When they were satisfied with their inspection I grabbed and handled him strongly,roughly and aggressively.

I gave him a terribly bad shaking and threw him heavily on the ground .He crushed to the floor groaning in pain.There were no replies from all the other workers,nor they lifted a hand to assist him up.. With that he slowly crept up shamefully and seemingly powerless 

The godly image he portrayed prevailed no more.Not a single soul present sided with him.Thereafter he left with head bowed down and in shame.He was cursed by the workers from that moment.He left us without resigning.Semi-insane.Yes,poor devil he absconded from us.

Thereafter I was more careful in whom I employed as my junior conductors.Few years later a cousin was recruited as my junior conductor and he proved more worthy f my judgement.All others were similarly wasted materials.He proved his worth and I taught him well.In so much when he left us he could stand by himself.

Not only that I even promoted a "kangany" to staff.He was hard working and most important obedient.Following instructions without questioning.I taught him how to handle the check rolls as well as other field work.Later I promoted him to another sister estate which was also brought under my charged. I only visited that estate at least twice a week.

That estate was in Kajang,namely Paradise Estate.Initially it was planted solely with rubber and here too I converted them to Oil Palm.Those days most plantation were planted with poor yielding Tjir 1 Seedlings.The timely conversion brought in much profit for the Boss.The whole plantation was prime land,situated a short distance from town.Currently I think it had been turned into a huge housing estate.
 
In Paradise Estate,I also learned about the Chinese Tea trade.Do you think most Chinese Tea were imported from China?.Think again,what I know was most Chinese tea purportedly to be from China were imitations.My boss was a big Chinese 

Tea merchant.He imported cheap tea leaves from Java and stored them at Paradise.Those tea were retreated mixed with guava leaves to make them slightly bitter just similar to those imported from China.He had to treatment plant at the back of his bungalow.I know because I was made to taste his tea everytime I paid him a visit every month or so.He was so wealthy yet had to relied on such lowly tricks.To me he was a bloody crook.

There were also two smaller  estates in Kerling under me.These properties were given away on contract,but my visits there were always weekly.The rubber were also smoked on Contract.Only thing were I had to be there whenever they weighed those rubber as the rubber were sold to the  local dealer there.

I was attached to St,Andrew for ten long beautiful years of which I converted all the low yielding fields into Oil Palm.During those years I had the confidence of the Bosses because the conversion to Oil Palm brought in huge profits as the the transformation progressed.The smiles on their faces were telling,of course.

There was a trail for Cocoa cultivation those days.It was sort of experimental plot as the price of Cocoa was similarly attractive then.This crop as I perceived was a difficult crop to deal with.Even on a small experimental plot crop were pilfered.Of all personals ,some junior staffs were involved.

This crop were easily disposed off because there were many buyers of such stolen items even in small quantities.Treated or otherwise.This was simply outrageous.I therefore never wanted to expand from that plot but the Bosses were interested.They soon gave up those ideas as the prices fluctuated very much.

Anyway the lost of crops through pilferage were sufficient to deter them.With the successful establishment of Oil Palm in the first replanting we dived further into replanting all other low yielding rubber fields.We were fortunate as  there were a drastic change in the clearing of those fields as the demand for rubber wood was slowly gaining importance.

Initially as firewood for brick kilns all round.There were also demand for the wood be properly sawn into useful timber for the manufacturing of furniture.The clearing were cleared free of charged by the felling contractors and in many case the transplanting done by them, without extra costs.

With those out off their minds what we made were all profits and without those extra costs for replanting everything were all profits for the Bosses.The  increasing Oil Palm prices those were ever accommodating.

All these made the faces of those Bosses beaming with pride.The conversion to Oil Pam brought in much profits they had never anticipitated.I was attached to them for ten beautiful years.I was never well paid here but the independence to work alone without hindrance from outsiders made me struck with them.

Well,job satisfaction was all I had.Not well paid but sufficient to survive on went a long way.Should I be well paid with loads of problems which burden and weary me down to earth.With plenty of worries and sleepless nights,where then were the joy of working?.I believe in enjoying your work and when you have that the pay does not bother or count.What can you ask for when you have that?.

While it lasted I had the confidence of the Bosses all of them but soon changed beyond my wildest imaginations.Their attitude took a drastic transformation once I decided to leave them.All sort of accusations were piled against me.What a ridiculous bunch?.The main Boss even accused me of cheating them using the overtime pocket chechroll against 

Payments in this check-rolls were only marked paid.Workers were never made to sined against their names.All these happened in all the plantations every where or in estates where I had been to.It was a normal practice every where.Yes,sad to say I could be charged because he made some  workers to admit that they were never paid.Well,he forced me to pay for some losses pending his investigations which never happened.

Well,like a bloody fool I paid for that folly on my part.That was in order to prevent my name being tarnished any further.On second thought had I committed a crime he would not have stop short at that,he would definitely had indiscriminate me for good,but he did not.He just showered his anger on me and wanted me to pay for leaving them.I gave him that to buy his coffin.My regret was I never been dishonest with them.

It never pays to be honest.Honesty maybe the best policy but there was also a Chinese saying "Being honest - At the end you will surely end up being pauper".