In minutes, the open space turned into a sparring ground. The alarm went off, summoning the armed guards. The wing commander and the camp commander arrived on the scene. With their stout sticks, the armed guards jumped on the boys and brought them under control.

‘Come on, you enemies of the country! Now you are all fighting to go to China! Go there. That’s the right place for you, you ungrateful wretches. You’ve given us no peace since you arrived here. Take off your belt, you! Remove your belts.’

Beating the boys black and blue, the guards removed their belts and dragged them to the jail adjacent to the camp. Then dumping ten or twelve boys in each cell, they closed the doors on them. It became unbearably stuffy and hot with so many packed into a space meant for one prisoner. The confined boys became restless. Some of them wiped tears of humiliation and frustration. Others were filled with infinite anger.

‘Did you see what the guards did? They didn’t hit them. They are the Dalai Lama’s people. They are India’s people. We are not. They hate us. We won’t live in this country any more. We will go to China. Whatever the consequences!’

There was pandemonium in Wings 4 and 5. Confusion and conflicting emotions had pushed the young men to the brink of despair.

Three

Three

Not used to the tremendous heat of Rajasthan, the people were in utter torment. The young boys were constantly pouring water on the thick jute curtains on the doors and windows to keep the rooms cool. Life at the Deoli internment camp went on as usual. It had been three and a half months since they had been brought here.

In all these months Mei Lin had not received a single letter from Pulok. She did not know whether he had received the letters she had mailed him. She got information about Pulok only through Phulmoni’s letters. All she knew was that he was in Shillong. Phulmoni could not write any more as the letters were still being censored. If she revealed anything more about Pulok, her letters would not be delivered by the authorities. Mei Lin was apparently guilty of treason. It was a crime to maintain contact with her. It was unlikely that Mei Lin would receive more news from Phulmoni, and keeping contact with an ‘enemy’ like her might create trouble for Phulmoni and her family!

Ho Wang’s wife asked Mei Lin to help her stitch some clothes for Yunlin’s child and Wai Kwan’s babies. They had bought material from the canteen with the coupons allotted to them.