<blockquote>It was from this ground that we were ousted before we made our way to the city.
The old zamindar had lost his title and estates, explained my son Binu after a few of our boys went to meet the village elders one morning. Not much would change for the rest of the village, but the fields at the outermost edge of the village—the farmlands of the forest folk—were to be handed over to the government for the commercial cultivation of betel leaves.
Puzzled, alarmed as I looked out at our tiny patch of land, I had said, “But this land was claimed by our forefathers! How could the zamindar give it away?”</blockquote>
