The journey of the leaf

At 12 noon, all the pluckers from the seven villages of Makaibari make their way towards weighing stations to get their baskets of leaf weighed. Then it's lunch break. Each basket is put on a hefty hook and a sturdy, reliable scale marks the weight. The leaf is then emptied on to the withering trough where over many hours, 60 - 70% of moisture is removed. Through a chute, it is then directed to the rolling machine. Here are some pictures of each of those steps.