From Economics to Tea Estates: A Lifetime of Learning in Plantation Management

About this episode

Ramesh Vasudevan shares his journey from the defense services to managing tea plantations, highlighting his leadership philosophy and experiences in various landscapes.

Most urban jobs involve dealing with air, water, and environmental pollution on a daily basis. What if you spend all your life in scenic surroundings? But the work is rigorous and you have to deal with much slower pace of life Starting at just twenty years old, Ramesh Vasudevan turned down India's defense services for something entirely different: tea plantations. His first assignment? Pruning two hundred tea bushes in fifteen days at Mayfield plantation in the Nilgiris. (He thought he'd done well, but his supervisor had other ideas.) That harsh feedback became the foundation of his entire leadership philosophy: you can't effectively supervise others until you've truly mastered the job yourself. Over his thirty to forty years in the industry, Ramesh worked across remarkable landscapes—from the prestigious Wentworth estate in Coorg to the challenging terrain of Papua New Guinea, where he ingeniously built mechanical tea harvesters from salvaged parts. He even managed a massive eucalyptus plantation project in Laos, carefully clearing unexploded ordnance from the Vietnam War before planting nearly twenty thousand hectares. Through it all, he developed an extraordinary palate…

People in this episode

Host: Venu Gopal Nair

Guest: Ramesh Vasudevan

Topics covered

• tea plantations
• leadership philosophy
• environmental challenges
• plantation management
• tea tasting

Keywords

• tea plantations
• leadership
• environment
• tea tasting
• plantation management
• Ramesh Vasudevan

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Nilgiris, Coorg, Papua New Guinea, Laos

More episodes of My First Job Podcast

• From Village School to Managing Director: Career Lessons Every Graduate Needs · June 5, 2026 · 60 min
• Teaching as a Career in India | Reality, Salary, Stress & Satisfaction · May 29, 2026 · 1h 3m
• First Career Steps In Three Different Directions: Psychology, UX/UI, Digital Marketing · May 22, 2026 · 57 min
• Career Advice for your 20s: Navy Commander to Business Leader · May 15, 2026 · 54 min
• Beyond the Cockpit: 3,000 Hours of Fighter Pilot Wisdom · May 8, 2026 · 44 min
• From Battlefield to Boardroom: Colonel KPM Das on Leadership, Fear, and Cybersecurity · May 1, 2026 · 57 min