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
‘He won’t be angry with me. But okay, I won’t ask him; instead I’ll speak to Sipahi dada. He will scold Ananta dada. Don’t cry, ache.’
Slowly the children returned to their own little worlds, blissfully oblivious as they were of the growing political tensions. Slowly Cheenapatti limped back to normalcy. But not with the laughter and happiness that had once filled the neighbourhood.
Fourteen
Fourteen
‘Will you be returning early?’ Mei Lin asked Pulok who was on his way to the tea garden.
‘Why? Do you want me to come back early?’ Pulok drew her close.
‘Always naughty things on your mind!’ she said and smiled. ‘We should have gone to Cheenapatti once.’
‘When do you want to go? Today?’
‘If you return early, we could go today itself. I’m so worried. I have heard that people start abusing and throwing stones at the sight of a Chinese person.’
‘Who told you this? I’m sure it’s my father, isn’t it?’
Mei Lin looked away. She didn’t have the heart to tell him that the moment he left for work, his father read out all kinds of horrible news and abused the entire Chinese community.
‘He has exaggerated. There is nothing to worry about.’
Mei Lin said nothing. After a few minutes, Pulok said, ‘We’ll go out in the evening. I’ll try to return as early as possible. Don’t go out to serve tea to the people who come to listen to the news. I’ll ask Maa to handle that.’
He pulled Mei Lin close again.
‘Do you remember what you have to do in case of an air raid?’
‘Yes, I do.’
‘Don’t think twice. No matter how much deuta gets angry, run to the trench the moment you hear the siren. The Chinese planes will not know that there is a Chinese girl in our house.’
He released Mei Lin from his arms and left.
Though he assured Mei Lin that there was no cause for worry, Pulok himself was troubled. The Indian troops were being defeated repeatedly in both the eastern and western sectors of the India-China border. Crossing NEFA, the Chinese army could enter Assam any moment. Defence Minister Krishna Menon had resigned. Nehru had now appointed Y. B. Chavan in his place.
Rumours about the Chinese advance abounded and the common man was gripped with fear.