New Delhi, Aug. 3 -- I spent a weekend recently in Kurseong, West Bengal-in the company of tea. Over the course of 48 hours, the weather changed from hot to pleasant to torrential, unrelenting rain. My first morning, however, is clear and cool, and I set out to walk through the Makaibari tea estate. Plucking was in full swing, and I joined in. "Use both hands," calls out Sanjay Das, the estate manager.

"You missed one," says the plucker near me, pointing to the shoots sticking up. "And there. And there."

I give up.

What can go wrong on the field, I ask Das, and he walks me through a long list of things. Weather, unseasonal rain, extended drought and frost, all of which are now frequent concerns. But there's more. There are pest and fun...