People from both the blocks were standing in a line, waiting for food. They looked extremely uneasy. Ever since they had arrived at Deoli, they had been served only khichdi. They were tired of the same gruel day in and day out. The sight of it was enough to nauseate them. The elderly would somehow gulp it down, but the children wept and refused to eat.

Slowly, they were getting restless. They were not scared like before. They would create a commotion at the slightest pretext. Of course, it would have no effect on the management. Instead, armed guards were called in to discipline the inmates. The soldiers’ batons, their guns and stony faces forced them into silence.

The food was ready to be distributed. Craning her neck, Mei Hang looked at the food and cried out, ‘Oh God! Hey Siu, Mei Lin, these days I only see tomatoes dancing in front of my eyes. Instead of killing us with bullets, the Indian government is trying to kill us with tomatoes –’

Waves of mild laughter passed through the crowd. But at the same time they looked disgusted. Khichdi with tomato! Again!

Mok Min became red with anger and burst out, ‘Khichdi again? I won’t eat it. Give us something else.’

K. P. Lee joined in.

‘Yes. We won’t have khichdi. Why are you serving this to us every day? What do you think of us? Animals? Beggars?’

‘Why are you telling us? Tell them at the office. We are just obeying orders,’ the kitchen in-charge replied angrily.

‘Right. Right. You think we are spies? You think we are the enemy? That’s why you are torturing us, am I correct? Listen – we are working people. We are not thieves or dacoits. We are not China’s spies. But you say we are spies. Why? Is it because we are Chinese?’

People were getting excited. The little children clinging to their mothers’ clothes looked on in fear.

In the middle of all the commotion, the deputy commander arrived on the scene. Holding up his hand for silence, he shouted, ‘Please be quiet. Please say what you want to say peacefully.’

It took a while for the crowd to quieten down. Then, Ho Chang Ho spoke. ‘I am the President of the Chinese Society of Makum. We have suffered a lot, sir. Our families …’

The deputy commander listened attentively to what Ho Chang Ho was saying, but before he could finish, C Hoi, breaking the queue, went up to the deputy commander and asked, ‘When are we going home?’

‘I don’t know. We haven’t got orders yet.’

‘I had a brand new house, you know. Absolutely new. It was completed on the new year.’

‘Go and stand in line,’ the commander ordered.

‘I am not a Chinese CID agent. I make and sell furniture in Makum. Let me go home, commander sahab.’ His voice became shaky.