The people sat, or lay asleep around the fire. One of the smokers was chopping large betel leaves on a block of wood with keen concentration. Another was dicing a banana stem. Taking a small amount of diced and smoked betel leaves from the hanging cane tray above the fire, one of the opium addicts kept it near him. Then placing a tiny piece of cloth smeared in opium on a ladle, he started to boil it in a little water. After draining out the water, the cloth was lifted out and placed on a banana leaf. All the opium smokers looked on attentively. The water evaporated, leaving a sticky opium residue in the ladle. The man placed a bit of minced betel leaf in the ladle and tossed it over with the skewers. And then began the ritual. The man lifted a bamboo tube that had turned black with smoke and smooth from regular use. At the bottom of the tube was water; a hole was carved two and a half inches above it. Another short and narrow tube was fixed to it. The man took a small portion of the opium-smeared betel leaves and placed it on the mouth of the small tube. Then he took a log of firewood from the fireplace, lit the diced leaves with the burning red embers and immediately sucked in the smoke from the big tube. After a moment or two, he slowly released the smoke. Then he lifted a bowl of tea. Taking a sip and nibbling on a piece of jaggery he offered the tube to another person and sat leaning against the wall.

Ah Chin sat there with downcast eyes, leaning against a pillar.

‘Ah Chin,’ Ho Han softly called out.

‘What?’ he looked at Ho Han with watery eyes.

‘Come, let’s go home.’

Ah Chin stared at him and then looked away.

‘Come, let’s go.’

‘I like it here. You go ahead. I’ll come later.’

‘No, we’ll go together, come on.’

‘You go ahead, Ho Han.’

‘Why are you doing this? How many times should I tell you? You don’t listen to me. Should anyone end their life in this way?’

Ah Chin sat silently for a while. Then he said slowly, ‘But I don’t want to live. What should I stay alive for?’

‘I have been telling you to save money all these years but you don’t seem to listen. We will also help you. You will be able to return home one day.’

Ah Chin’s eyes filled with tears.

‘No, I can’t. You are just trying to console me. I know I’ll never be able to return home. I will never be able to see my parents, or my children and their mother. I don’t want to live like this. Not even for a day.’

The others sitting around watched the two men in pigtails talk in a strange language. They said nothing. They were all aware that the manager had thrashed Ah Chin today with his steel-tipped cane for refusing to work.