‘Go,’ she said.

‘Anjali – Makum Cheenapatti.’

Crying loudly, Anjali got down too. Aheng and Wong Choi also found their families.

Ho Yin’s family and Yiu Yi’s uncle’s family boarded the compartment.

‘Take your food. Hurry. Hurry.’ There was the sound of banging on the coaches.

Everyone rushed to the windows. They stretched their hands outside and took the Indian bread and jaggery brought from Nowgong jail. ‘Close the windows. Close the doors. Don’t peep outside.’ The armed guards went on beating the coaches with their batons.

Khagen Baishya returned to the compartment after eating a good meal; he brought with him extra food in a tiffin carrier along with a big container of water.

‘A passenger train is going to cross the Saraighat Bridge for the first time today. We have heard that they decided to test the bridge with this train.’

The new detainees spread the news in all the compartments of the train.

‘Really? Is this really true?’

The detainees looked at the people who gave the news, stunned.

The Indian government had decided to test the bridge with them! Was the government so displeased with them? Would they be able to live in this country again after they returned?

No one knew.

It seemed as though the armed guards were made of stone. They simply wouldn’t respond. Only a few words and the same instructions.

‘No one should open the windows. Don’t peep outside. Don’t try to escape. Or else we will shoot. Just sit quietly.’

When the train finally began to move again, it was midnight.

Twenty-two

Twenty-two

The sky was clear. There were open fields on both sides of the rail tracks. Carrying the captives inside, a ghostly train sped along, hissing through the free world outside.

After leaving Guwahati, the train had not stopped anywhere except at signals. There was no way of knowing where they were, or how far they had travelled. They had been travelling for hours. Slowly the compartments were getting dirty. The air inside became heavy.

Mei Lin sat on a wooden bench, her head leaning against a closed window. Beside her sat Cha Mu. Ko Fuk was sleeping with his head on Cha Mu’s lap. He was running a temperature and was moaning weakly.

A little further sat the young boys, talking in hushed voices. Ming, sitting near them, was engrossed in a book while Hong sat deep in thought, his hand on Ming’s shoulder. The elders were still playing Mahjong in a corner but their minds were not on the game. Chi Fu Hai sat on a corner, leaning on the side of the compartment. He was thumping his head slowly against it every now and then. Anyone could say that he was in pain. He had been itching all over since the previous day. He had become restless since his stock of opium had finished. He flared up at the slightest pretext and tried to quarrel.