The camp was attached to the main Deoli jail. It was divided breadth-wise into five sections. Each wing was separated by barbed wire and had a gate manned at all times by armed guards. Two sections lay to the left of the main gate, while the other three were on the right. The first one on the right was Wing 3: the Chinese from Calcutta, Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Siliguri were housed there. In Wing 2 were some Tibetans and those who had business ties with Tibet or were married to Tibetans. Wing 1 was occupied by a few rich, aristocratic families from Darjeeling, Kurseong, Kalimpong and Siliguri. On the left was Wing 4 which housed the Chinese from Silghat, Tezpur, Sootea, Balipara and other areas in Lower Assam and the north bank of the Brahmaputra. Wing 5 had people from the different areas of Upper Assam: Titabor, Jorhat, Golaghat, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh, Duliajan, Makum, Doom Dooma, Margherita, Ledo, Tinsukia and other places. Each of these wings was divided into two blocks. These were further divided into small rooms with long dormitories in between. A commander was in charge of each wing. He reported to a deputy camp commander who, in turn, reported to the camp commander.

The small rooms had been allotted to families, while the young men were put into dormitories. Mei Lin stayed in one of these small rooms with Siu, Mei Hang and Ahlin.

She shielded her eyes from the bright sunlight and looked around. Yiu Yi’s grandfather was sitting on a charpoy in front of his room, his head hung low. Yunlin’s father-in-law and Ho Wang sat beside him, placing their hands on their foreheads while on another charpoy sat C Hoi, Ho Chang Ho and Ah Fuk. The Mahjong board and its soiled dice lay abandoned on a wooden packing case nearby. No one was playing or talking. Everyone looked gloomy. Their bodies showed signs of malnutrition, sleeplessness, exhaustion and frustration.

Ever since they had arrived at Deoli camp, Yiu Yi’s grandfather had sat like this for the most part of the day. The other older men sat like this as well. The children and the youngsters also joined them once in a while. He had become the guardian of their wing.

Mei Lin went to the open space between the two wings, where the children were playing. Everyone was wearing dirty clothes, their hair matted. The dusty dryness of the camp had absorbed all colour. Everything looked dull and faded. Yiu Yi stood beside the children absentmindedly. As Mei Lin approached her, she said with a smile, ‘I didn’t see you, Mei Lin ache.’

‘What were you thinking about, Yiu Yi?’

‘About Maa. Don’t know when she will come. My little brother cries all the time. He refuses to eat or sleep. I told him to come and play. But he gets angry at me. Do you know when Maa will come, ache?’

‘She will come. She will come soon.’