Although hardly used, the names stuck. Their friends, however, called them by their original Chinese names. Lee Chang changed his name back to Lee Chang through an affidavit. Tung Chin did not.

It was after a long time that they were teasing Tung Chin again. Everyone burst out laughing. Akong’s three chubby little sons peeped shyly from behind.

‘Your boys have perfect Chinese complexion. But no one will believe you are Chinese. What a complexion!’ Rameshwar commented, patting the dark-complexioned Akong on his back, as they all went inside laughing.

The entire family sat around a table. There was Akong’s father and his two brothers. The three little boys also joined them shyly. Akong’s mother was arranging tea and snacks on the table. She was dark-complexioned with curly hair tied up in a high bun. Wearing a red-bordered white sari, she stood near her short and fair husband. It was difficult to ignore the contrast in their looks. ‘You all have come after a long time,’ said Akong’s mother.

‘We hardly ever get time these days,’ Pulok said.

‘Have dinner before you go.’

‘Not today. We are going to have a discussion about the football game at the club,’ Narayan said.

‘But there is a meeting at the club,’ one of Akong’s brothers said.

‘We will have our discussion after the meeting.’

‘The person who has come from Calcutta is not reliable. I know him. His name is Liang Ching Wan. He has been here a couple of times before as well. He was persuading us to get Red China passports. He says it will be useful for us.’

‘Don’t you have Indian citizenship?’ Pulok asked with surprise.

‘No, we don’t.’

‘Why? You came here so many years ago, didn’t you?’

‘Yes. It was during British times, way before the Second World War.’

‘Even then you don’t have Indian citizenship? Why?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘We were born here. Even then we don’t have citizenship,’ Akong said. ‘We don’t know under what terms we are here. Papa has some old papers that the tea garden manager gave him. We have some papers as well. Papa used to go to the Foreigner’s Registration Office earlier. He doesn’t anymore. No one has asked anything regarding this. No police enquiries, no difficulties, nothing,’ said Akong.

‘You better apply for citizenship. You might get into trouble later.’

‘What trouble? We have married local girls. We came here years before the World War. We never went to China after that. We have almost forgotten about China,’ Akong’s father said.

‘Why didn’t you ever go back?’ Narayan asked.

‘You need money to go! We were very poor. My brother-in-law came to work here in the tea gardens. My sister had followed. And one day, I came as well. What could we have done staying in China? There was no work. There was no food. Only violence and bloodshed. It was much better here. Even though the freedom struggle was going on here, people had enough to eat.’