Part Two

One

January, 1962. Makum, Upper Assam.

A thousand days and thousand nights had gone by. Crossing the scales of time, the chariot of history had arrived at another century. The nineteenth century was in the distant past. It was now fifteen years after India’s independence.

Assam, which was under the Bengal Presidency during the days of the East India Company, was now a part of a free India. It was also no longer under the rule of the Ahom royalty. It was now a state made up of the old Assam together with the principalities of a host of native tribes like the Motoks, Koch, Singpho, Khamti, besides many other ethnic communities.

On the eastern border of Assam was a region named the North-East Frontier Agency, directly under the central administration of India. Bhutan, China and Burma were NEFA’s immediate neighbours. The events of the past had changed the entire scenario of the region. A new style of governance, new laws, and new ways of life had replaced the antiquated ways of the past. Presently the state, particularly Upper Assam, was beginning to preen with the advent of modernity. Despite the changing times and fading memories of Charles Bruce, Ah Mong, Lum Kwa, Ho Han, Ho Yen and Ah Chin, tea gardens like Keheng, Chabua and many more continued to thrive.

Along with the tea gardens, the beautiful houses built by skilled Chinese carpenters remained. The Assam Railway and Trading Company, which constructed the Dibru-Saikhowa railway line, still existed. The Digboi refinery, the coal mines, the famous brick kiln of Ledo made by the British and many other establishments had stood the test of time. Until recently, licensed labour agents had been employing various means to bring labourers from different parts of India to the gardens to work in indentured servitude. The society of the tea garden labourers was now spread across the entire region of post-independence Assam. The small Chinese settlements alongside the labourers’ societies were also branching out. Small and big Chinatowns were sprouting up in various parts of Assam.

Years ago, Nandalal Shah had come from far-flung Bihar to set up his shop in Makum. Two Chinese carpenters brought in by Ho Han had settled down in his backyard. Then came Suhagmoni, who was pregnant with Ho Yen’s child. After that came Ho Han and Phulmati. Ho Han started constructing houses and making furniture. Ah Chin decided to stay on the tea garden. Over the years many more Chinese came to settle in Nandalal Shah’s backyard and the vicinity. As the number of tea gardens added up, the demand for Chinese workmen adept in wood and iron work increased. Quite a few such skilled Chinese carpenters had come via Calcutta and Burma. Along with them had come a large number of Chinese labourers to work under Chinese contractors and carpenters. The migrants were an impoverished lot affected by famine, drought, flood and political unrest in their homeland. For food, clothes and shelter they bartered their skills and toil.