TO FOLLOW THE SUN;.

The morning sun kissed the dew on the tea bushes as Letchimi walked softly, fearfully up the bank that led to the Dorai's house. Rarely did people living in the line rooms dare to go up alone to the Superintendant's house unless accompanied by the overseer or another official. Her feet, clasped in silver anklets, were bare with the heels cracked open in the cold. Her basket was strapped to her back, like a cross. The coarse folds of a cheap cotton sari wrapped round her young body yet showed the full curve of her young breasts. No one, not even her three brothers knew of her secret meeting with the Dorai's wife. They would be enraged if they knew.

Tea pluckers like Letchmi, had their Kangany, their overseer to see to their problems, personal or otherwise. Above the Kangany was the Kankapullai and the field officers. They would take affront if they knew that a chit of a girl, like Letchmi, was daring to go right up to the Dorai's house alone.

It was her secret, her only hope and life-line, this friendship of the Dorai's wife.

She waited, hidden behind a tree, patiently waiting for the lady to come out for her morning walk. Each day, if the weather was fair, the lady took a walk among the tea bushes on the earth road below her bungalow. Letchimi crept closer up to the house nestling among flowering bushes. She had never been invited inside but Letchimi could see that the outside of the Dorai's house was beautiful. Painted white with large glass windows covered by thick blue curtains. Soon, soon Pillai the cook cum houseboy would draw open the curtains and Letchimi could see the beautiful fittings inside. But she did not want Pillai, who lived in the same line as herself, to see her waiting to meet the Dorai's wife. When he went home in the evening he would tell her brother and her mother that he had seen her near the Dorai's house and would get her into trouble. Yet she crept a few inches more up the slope. She also feared the big dog that might spot her squatting on her haunches near the green gate. He would come out barking;

But the door opened at last and Dorai's wife stepped out for a early morning walk. Ready for the mist and the cold she was dressed in white long trousers and coat and carried a white sun parasol. She wore dark glasses and her lips were painted a pale pink to match her long finger nails. Her skin was fair, not sunburnt like Letchnimi's skin. After her early morning walk she would retire into the house and only emerge again after the sun went down;; she was afraid of the elements coming from the city.
