Page 40 of The Secrets of the Tea Garden

‘Mum turning up on speech day in a sari didn’t help,’ said Flowers.

‘I only did that once,’ said Winnie, ‘and I looked twice as elegant as those horsey army women.’

‘I’m sure you did,’ Libby agreed.

Winnie gave a proud jut of her chin. ‘My family can trace their roots back to some of the first Europeans in India – StThomas Christians – but many of the newly arrived British look down their long noses as if we’re no better than Untouchables.’

‘Libby’s family are not like that,’ said Flowers.

‘Sorry, I didn’t mean you, Libby,’ said Winnie quickly.

‘Mum’s right about the snobbery towards us though. It’s something we’ve always had to live with but now it’s really worrying. What will happen to us now that the British will be handing over to the Indians? We’ve worked for the British Raj for generations yet there’s no guarantee that the jobs we have will be secure in the future.’

‘We’ll go back to Britain,’ Danny Dunlop insisted. ‘It’s our home too.’

Winnie was outspoken. ‘We could never afford it – and it’s not our home.’

‘Well, it’s mine!’ he protested. ‘If my father hadn’t died young I’d have been brought up on a tea plantation like Libby.’

‘Don’t get upset, Dad,’ said Flowers. ‘I shouldn’t have mentioned it.’

‘I’m sorry too,’ Winnie apologised again. ‘You just make me anxious with your talk of going to England. I think we Anglo-Indians should stick together and make the best of it here. Be a special kind of Indian in the new India.’

Danny exclaimed, ‘The Indians have an even lower opinion of Anglo-Indians than the British – they hate us for doing our patriotic duty during the War – so don’t expect any special treatment from the likes of Nehru and his Congress-wallahs.’

‘What do you want to do, Flowers?’ Libby asked.

The young woman shrugged.

‘Flowers could get a good job back home nursing,’ her father answered for her.

‘But where would we go?’ Flowers asked.

‘Adela would help find us somewhere to live in Newcastle,’ he suggested. ‘And the climate would suit me better. I could enjoy a happyretirement there. Watch cricket and live by the sea. Find other railwaymen to share achota pegwith at the club. Look up Dunlop relations.’

Winnie shook her head in disbelief. ‘What other Dunlops? They won’t all live together in a colony like a railway family here.’

‘I’ll find them,’ he said with conviction.

Libby wondered how often they argued about their future. She hadn’t realised how especially difficult and uncertain it must be for those families caught in the middle – the half-halfs, as Helena unkindly called them, accepted as neither truly British nor properly Indian.

Flowers looked embarrassed. ‘I didn’t invite Libby here to witness a family squabble. Let’s talk of something else. When are you going up to Assam, Libby?’

‘In a week or so – after my birthday – when my father comes to Calcutta.’ Libby smiled.

‘Lucky you. I haven’t been out of the city for over two years,’ said Flowers. ‘I nursed in Assam during the War.’

‘My daughter was on the Front Line in Burma,’ said MrDunlop proudly, ‘caring for our boys.’

‘Yes, Adela told me,’ said Libby. ‘You were much braver than I was. Being a Land Girl was hard work but I was never in any danger.’

‘We were too busy to think of the danger,’ said Flowers with a rueful smile, ‘but the conditions were hardly the Ritz.’

Eventually, Libby stood up to go and turned to Winnie. ‘Thank you for such a lovely lunch. I’ve really enjoyed meeting you and MrDunlop.’

‘You must call again before you leave Calcutta,’ said Winnie, ‘now you know where we are. Please call in anytime.’

‘Yes,’ agreed Danny, ‘you must. I’d love another chat about Assam.’