‘Hey, Ho Yen, Ah Chin hasn’t come for work, has he?’ one of the workers asked.

‘No. The burra sahab has given him leave for today,’ answered Ho Yen.

‘The old fellow must be very happy.’

‘Very happy.’

‘What will they look like together? One as fair as milk, and the other black as coal!’ a worker said, laughing heartily.

‘We belong to the same community. We are the community of bonded labourers. What difference does colour of skin make?’

A group of women passed by, leaving the smell of plucked leaves in the air. Suhagmoni and her friends were among them. They’d been standing and plucking tea leaves for hours on end and their ankles were swollen. It was hard work, yet the girls always remembered to have a good time.

Leaving their work aside for a moment, Ho Yen and the other workers looked at the girls. They, too, stared back and giggled, nudging each other. Their faces were glowing, their eyes bashful. Apart from Phulmati, the other women were busy chatting and joking with the men.

‘Hey! See how Ho Yen is staring at Suhagmoni.’

Ho Yen smiled shyly, embarrassed, while the other boys teased him. People in the garden were aware of the intimacy that had developed between them. Lately, it seemed as though people were making an effort to be happy and forget their sad past. One could hear the sound of drums floating in the air, and the sweet, maddening notes of the flute at night. Slowly but steadily, people began celebrating their own traditions and festivals. During weddings and pujas, they would decorate the mud walls of their homes in the age-old way, with natural colours mixed with the gum of the dhatura plant. They planted sage, hibiscus and other local flowers in their gardens. Boys and girls meeting secretly under the nahar trees that lined the roads had become a regular affair.

In a house near the sawmill, Ho Han was making wooden tea chests with the help of a number of Indian coolies. Winter was round the corner and it was in this cold season that tea could be put into chests.

Ho Han and the others had learned to make fine tea chests.

Chinese people continued to arrive, especially from South China. Among them, the Cantonese were skilled in wood and iron work. Most of the Cantonese came to Assam. The Hakkas were experts in leather work; most of them stayed in Calcutta. Only a few went on to Assam. Many tanneries had sprung up in Calcutta along with a number of Chinese shoe stores. A few Chinese dentists had made their way to Assam. They did not stay in the tea gardens but lived outside, opened their own clinics and came to be known for their dexterity.

Ho Han and the other Chinese workers now had considerable freedom to move around. However, the garden manager kept a watchful eye on them, so that other tea companies would not seduce them with better offers. A number of tea companies had sprouted in Assam and competition was stiff.