‘What is it?’ she asked brightly, coming forward.

‘Finished your work?’

‘Yes. I’m on my way to get my ration from the burra gola. Ah Chin will also be coming.’

‘I’ll go with you,’ said Ho Han. They walked in a companionable silence for a little while.

‘How is Ah Chin?’

‘Don’t ask me about him. Perhaps it would have been better if he hadn’t gone to China after all.’

‘Why?’

‘He keeps weeping. He talks of his children back in China and weeps. He remembers his parents who died long before he went there and weeps. Then he remembers his wife in China and weeps. If he keeps on weeping like this, he will land himself in the opium den again for sure. I’ve told him – if you are bent on weeping, go ahead and weep. If you want to go to China one more time, do that. If you want to bring back your wife and children with you, do that too. But if I ever see you again near the opium den, I’ll play the Nagara drum on your back.’

Ho Han smiled.

In most of the coolie lines now, the Marwaris had opened up shops. The locals and the coolies called them ‘keya golas’. In every garden, there was a big shop known as ‘burra gola’ which was responsible for distributing rations on behalf of the tea garden management. The company also used them as bankers.

There had been a great increase in the number of coolie lines. Coolies were still coming in from different parts of British India. With the number of the coolies increasing at a rapid pace, the exploitation of their lot had also intensified. The insides of the coolie lines were shadowed by dissatisfaction. Clashes between the managers and labourers had become a daily affair. The managers were in favour of controlling any rebellion with an iron fist. For them the coolies were nothing but slaves who could be whipped and kicked at will.

Only two months ago, a manager of a tea garden had caned a runaway coolie woman to death. In Keheng itself, the manager had thrashed two coolie boys as he suspected them to have secret liaisons with his coolie keep. The same manager, after a few days of that incident, kicked another coolie, who died on the spot. A new manager had joined after that, but he was worse than his predecessor.

The coolies who were compelled to live in subhuman conditions in the gardens tried to tolerate the torture. They knew they were on the weaker side. Neither the owners of the gardens nor the law or the administration was sympathetic towards them. Even the smallest protests resulted in torture.

Dukhi and Ho Han halted in front of the ration house near the burra gola. There was a long queue of labourers in front of the house; there was no door to go inside. In its place was a big tube made of tin. The broad mouth of the tube was inside the house. The labourers had to bend to collect their rations coming down the tube, as it was placed two and a half feet above the ground.