I returned from Canada with the intention to bring that chapter to light. Slowly, I tried to visualize the events that took place in 1962. I tried to find the old residents by exploring Makum’s lanes.

Makum was almost as I had pictured it. The small shops across the train line and Lao Thien Lee and Lee Chang’s shoe shops were missing. In their place, a huge market had come up.

When I see that market, a deep sense of sadness haunts me. Their bright faces come alive in front of my eyes. As if I can hear Lao Thien Lee’s cheerful voice saying, ‘This time Seven Star will be the champions again. Even last year, Robin was in our team. Seven Star had scored four goals.’

My eyes fill up with tears.

The same Robin had arrested and confined them in the cowshed of Murli Gola! He took them to that ghostly train! He chased them away from Assam!

Oh! Is this what patriotism stands for? Doesn’t it destroy in a day the unity built over ages?

I have not experienced war, except in the movies or by hearing about it from army men. I heard about the battle of Walong from B. N. Chowdhury, who was in the thick of action. I know how people feel when their country is attacked by another. How they become overwhelmed by the love for their country. How a soldier offers himself for the country. How a normal person in an army uniform becomes a killer to save his country. I know how a war transforms a democracy into a ruthless authoritarian state. Even if it means destruction of homes, confiscation of properties.

Had I not met Lailin, I would not have known how war can vitiate the age-old foundations of a society. Had I not met Lailin, maybe I would not have ever known even myself.

On returning from Canada, my journey started with Mei Lin and the others from the past. With me were Gautam, son of B. N. Chowdhury, and his friends Pawan and Shankar, the current owners of C Hoi’s house. I went to their house. The house hasn’t changed much; it immediately carried me to that period. The secret passage was still there.

‘We bought this house in one of the “enemy property auctions”. The house was empty except for a lot of books – they were in Chinese. Even the furniture from the houses had been auctioned. Many found money, jewellery, passbooks and other valuables stacked inside the secret cabinets. We also bought a box full of Chinese tools and a sewing machine.’

Pawan showed me the machine. It sucked me into a vortex of sorrow instantly.

Whose sewing machine was this? Mei Lin’s? Mei Hang’s? Siu’s? Ahlin’s? Or did it belong to Ho Wang’s wife?

Whose tool box was that? C Hoi’s? Yiu Yi’s father’s?