‘How did you first come here?’ he asked Lum Kwa.

‘That’s a long story. I’ll tell you another time. There are almost four hundred Chinese families here.’

‘Four hundred families?’ Ho Han was surprised. ‘Were they also bought?’

‘No, they were not bought. Why would the traffickers want to buy Chinese men? Can’t you see how Indian coolies are bought to be sold in other countries? You have been brought here for cultivation. People here don’t know about tea farming.’

‘Then why have our Chinese people come here?’

‘I’ve heard that in the eightieth year of the last century a Chinese called Yong Atchew first came here to live. He set up a sugar mill. He brought with him a hundred Chinese men who knew how to make sugar. But the mill was a failure and a few years later, Yong Atchew passed away. However, the workers stayed on. Some Chinese sailors who ran away from their ships also stayed on here and in this way a lot of people from China, especially from Kwangtung, came to be residents in this city. It’s miserable there, with the ongoing opium wars. Now there will be even more people migrating. But there is plenty of work and people get enough to eat. Our people have all kinds of skills and can work hard. It’s this opium addiction that is the root of all evil. Where was your home?’

‘My home,’ Ho Han stopped short. After a while he shook his head and said, ‘No, I don’t have a home. I was sold as a child.’

‘Oh! Doesn’t matter. There is always a quota of sorrow in everyone’s life. Some have a little more of it and some have less. You can think of me as your relative. Maybe an uncle, or even your father.’

Ho Han looked at him in disbelief. Were there really people who could speak this kindly?

Uncomfortable with these emotions, he changed the subject. ‘This place is not like Kwangchow – the roads are much wider.’

‘There are narrow lanes too, you will see.’

The rhythmic sound of the horses’ hooves and the tinkle of their bells punctuated their journey. The phaeton passed through the clamour of drunken menials and the prostitutes who stood on both sides of the road.

After a while Lum Kwa spoke, ‘Our people have opened shoe shops in Calcutta. Most people here are crazy about shoes made by the Chinese. But there are still those who will not wear shoes made from calf leather.’

‘Why?’ Ho Han asked.

‘Because the Hindus worship cows. In this country there are high castes and low castes. Only the workers from the low castes work with leather. It is difficult to find skilled workers to make shoes. It is due to this that our Hakka shoemakers are at an advantage. They are rich. They have their own factories, and have brought a lot of their own kin from China, to take advantage of the job opportunities.’

‘Are there Cantonese here as well?’ asked Ho Han.