Sea of Poppies

The migrants are kept below deck until nighttime; the overseers believe that if they see the shore in the daylight, they might be more likely to try to escape. Even at night, though, close watch is kept on them, as “past experience had taught them that in every group of indentured migrants there were always a few who were desperate—or suicidal—enough to throw themselves into the water” (364).

The trip downriver takes approximately three days, and Neel knows that they will pass his estate toward the end of the second day: “When the time came, almost as if to mock him, he heard the lookout cry out, above: Raskhali, we’re passing Raskhali!” (365). Ah Fatt recognizes that Neel is familiar with the place, but Neel declines to tell him why; instead, he asks Ah Fatt to tell him his own story.

Ah Fatt is originally from Canton—or, more properly, from the Fanqui enclave outside of Canton, to which all foreigners were ostensibly limited. Moreover, foreigners were ostensibly forbidden from sexual relations and expected to remain celibate; however, “[a]s in so many things, what was said and what transpired were by no means the same” (369). The authorities had to have been familiar with the Fanqui enclave’s red-light district, for example, as well as the fact that washerwomen came to provide laundry services, which was how Ah Fatt’s father and mother met. After several years of tryst, Leong Fatt, or Ah Fatt, was born.

On the Ibis, the migrant women are expected to perform menial tasks for the ship’s men; as a result, Paulette is given the task of washing clothes, which she learns to do slowly in order to remain above deck as long as possible. Paulette feels sadness when she glimpses the fauna that she had studied with her father; at one point, Munia asks fearfully about a mangrove that looks like it has a snake hanging from it, which happens to be an orchid that bears Paulette’s own name.

Munia tells Paulette about her flirtations with Jodu, which is strange for Paulette: “That Jodu might have a strong amatory streak had never occurred to Paulette: she was shocked to hear of his boldness” (373). Just as Paulette is chastising Munia, Zachary comes by; Paulette tries to hide her gaze, but Munia is able to follow it and thus chastises her back, saying, “But you’re no different from me. I saw who you had your eye on. He’s got two arms and a flute just like any other man” (373).

Neel and Ah Fatt, on the other hand, are given the task of picking and rolling istup (oakum). The convicts are not allowed to eat above deck, either, though they are released once daily in order to empty their toilet bucket, wash, and get a bit of exercise. However, “[t]his last part of the convicts’ routine, Bhyro Singh was quick to appropriate” by forcing them to pretend to be oxen or otherwise degrading and beating them (374). Further, he continually attempts to get the convicts to turn against one another.

One day, during one of Bhyro Singh’s beatings, Neel recognizes Zachary and greets him. Bhyro responds furiously at first, but Zachary stays his hand. Zachary takes a minute to remember him and they have a brief conversation, up until Bhyro grows tired of it and angrily makes them move on. Zachary, too, is reprimanded by Crowle, who tells him he should have pretended simply that Neel and Ah Fatt didn’t exist.

Unknown to them, Baboo Nob Kissin also observes the exchange. Initially, he feels pride in the part he played to bring Neel down; however, “no sooner had this thought crossed his mind than the gomusta experienced the upwelling of a sensation [pity] that was so intense and so unfamiliar that he knew that Taramony had to be its source” (378). This, coupled with observing Zachary protect Neel from Bhyro, convinces Nob Kissin that Neel is to be the adopted son that Taramony was never able to bear her husband.

At night, one of the migrants decides to tell stories of how Mauritius is filled with hungry animals that will eat the weakest of them. As people begin to grow fearful and upset, Paulette realizes that she has to quell the fear by telling the truth about the island; when questioned, she explains that she read it in a book. This gets Neel’s attention, as there are few Bengali families who are educated, and fewer still who educate their daughters, making Neel believe he must know her. Once things die down, Neel questions her through the air duct; Paulette, though, is circuitous in her responses, in order to keep Neel off her trail. When Paulette asks if he’s heard of the saying “we’re all in the same boat,” in response to his claim that she shouldn’t waste her time trying to educate the others, Neel recognizes that she’s translating on the fly an English phrase into Bengali. Neel believes he has solved the mystery of who Paulette is, but is mistaken, as he believes her to be a prostitute who learned English in order to please white clients.

Deeti and Kalua have made their space beneath a massive beam. Deeti begins to draw on the beam and creates a “seaborne shrine” (385), first with an image of Kabutri and later with an image of the Ibis after it reaches the Bay of Bengal.