Chapters (53)
- Cover
- Title page
- Prologue
- Part One
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Part Two
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Part Three
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Author’s Note and Acknowledgements
Meanwhile, Dulal and the others were busy taking down pictures of Mao Tse-tung, Chow En Lai, Karl Marx, Liu Shao Qi. They were all kept hidden behind the almirahs in the office room.
Dulal was now taking down Nehru’s photograph.
‘Hey, don’t, dont take that down,’ Ling Kwang Tung cried out.
Dulal stopped. Looking at Ling Kwang Tung’s face for a moment, he got off the stool with a grave face.
Nehru remained alone, smiling, on a wall full of empty and clean squares, which until sometime back had been covered by framed pictures.
In the office room, Ho Chang Ho, K. P. Lee, Yiu Yi’s grandpa, Ho Fuk, Mok Min and the headmaster Chow Chi Yong were discussing the war situation with utmost seriousness. Many things had happened of late. The license given to the Bank of China in Calcutta had been cancelled by the Reserve Bank of India. The Chinese Consulate in Calcutta as well as the Chinese Embassy in Delhi constantly faced demonstrations by student groups and politicians. News of arrests of Chinese people under the ordinance that had been put in place during the Emergency was coming from all sides.
As soon as A. C. Chow entered, the discussions came to a close. These days, he seemed to be on very good terms with the government so they didn’t want to air their views in front of him.
Hong came in. ‘It’s time for all of you to go outside. The guests have arrived.’
Ahlin and her friends stood near the gate to welcome the invitees. The first to arrive was Gangeswar Sharma, the headmaster of GBC School. Gradually, the others came in. The last to enter was Ananta. Ahlin’s face brightened at the sight of him, while her friends smiled at her.
‘You are late,’ Ahlin said to him but he did not answer or smile. He looked at her for a moment and headed straight to the dais. He could not exchange smiles with a Chinese girl in public. He was not a common boy. He was a student leader.
The smile disappeared from Ahlin’s face. She went to Mei Hang, her head hanging low, and sat there with tears in her eyes.
Mei Hang held her close and said slowly, ‘Don’t cry. Try to understand.’