Chitta’s mother came out of the kitchen and sat beside him. She had seen Pulok grow up. Chitta’s sister Jhuma was in the kitchen garden. She hurriedly came in holding her sari and, after speaking with Pulok for a few moments, left to make tea.

At that moment, Mei Lin was talking to Kaushalya outside her house. Kaushalya was the local collector’s daughter. The house stood on the right side just beyond the entrance to the lane adjacent to the Chinese school. Many Chinese families lived in this lane too. Mei Lin’s friends, Siu, Alan and Mei Hang, also lived here – all three slowly arrived.

‘We have just been to your house,’ said Alan. ‘Have you forgotten that we have to go from house to house to help make the New Year snacks?’

‘Will it be okay if I come after an hour?’ asked Mei Lin.

‘Where are you going?’ Mei Hang asked, faking gruff seriousness.

‘To Chitta’s house.’

‘All of a sudden?’

Mei Lin’s face turned red. ‘Pulok asked me to go there.’

‘When will you return?’ Siu asked.

‘She may not,’ Mei Hang teased.

‘Dhet,’ Mei Lin smiled shyly.

‘Okay, then come to our house after you’re done.’

‘Is this a New Year tradition – this snack-making?’ Kaushalya asked.

‘I don’t really know. Many Chinese people here don’t know how to make traditional Chinese snacks. So we help each other and also learn from those who know how to make them,’ Alan said. ‘You better go now, Mei Lin. Remind Pulok of our names. He might have forgotten.’ Mei Hang laughed.

Mei Lin left her friends and went down the lane. On the right, in the front of the school courtyard, some students of different age groups were playing.

‘Mei Lin ache …’ A little girl came running out of the compound to meet Mei Lin. ‘Where are you going, ache?’ asked nine-year-old Yiu Yi; her face was red and shining from exertion.

‘Why have you come out? Sir will be angry,’ Mei Lin said, stroking Yiu Yi’s hair.

‘No, he won’t. School is closed today. We are just playing.’

‘Do you know that your Sipahi dada is here?’

‘Really? Who told you, ache?’ Yiu Yi asked excitedly.

‘I met him yesterday at Narayan’s sister’s wedding. He came just after you left.’

‘Will Sipahi dada come to Makum today, ache?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘I’ll ask Chitta dada then. Oh, but if I go to Chitta dada’s shop he will give me toffees and Maa will scold me if I take them.’

‘Why?’

‘She says I should pay for them. It’s such a small shop, she says. It will close down if I keep on taking free toffees. Can a shop close down if I take a couple of small toffees? Maa doesn’t understand. Chitta dada feels bad if I pay and Maa gets angry if I don’t. Bohut tiktali,’ she said, unable to pronounce the Assamese ‘digdari’.

Mei Lin laughed too, as Yiu Yi went back to the school. In a bright mood, she crossed the railway track to reach the road.