ABSTRACT
While many subdepots were scattered throughout North India located in key centres such as Allahabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Faizabad, Banaras, Ghazipur and Buxar, the main 'coolie depot' was opened in Garden Reach on the banks of the River Hooghly in Calcutta. The train started moving, leaving the weeping women behind. By coincidence the men going to Calcutta were in the bogie in which was travelling. With them there were three or four women who were also going to Calcutta. Khan writes that the food served on the ship was better than that served at the Calcutta depot. It consisted of rice, dhal, vegetables, tamarind sauce, tin meat and lemon juice. The journey by ship was a grim foreboding of the misfortune awaiting the coolies in the colonial plantations. There was also a deep sense of apprehension, anxiety and fear among them about the life awaiting them.
