Bakar Ali

Description

Khansama of the Magistrate’s house at Garden Reach, thirty years in it. He runs the evening — every evening — and vets every stranger’s servant at the gate with two questions and a cup of tea. The assessment runs both directions, and both parties know it.

Background

Thirty years in one house in Bengal makes a man the household’s memory. He knows which of the guests’ households are happy, which are frightened, and which pay late, because their servants have been drinking tea at his gate for three decades. His good opinion is the servants’ world’s passport, and it opens every compound in Chowringhee.

On the evening of 9 October 1814 he vetted Pratap Singh at the gate, and then, over tea while the dinner ran in dumb-show through the open colonnade, gave him a full assessment of the dinner guests and their households — politely, thoroughly, and first. The price of that assessment is questions answered about one’s own masters.

Motivations

The good order of the house, which he has kept for thirty years and does not intend to see disturbed. Beyond that: knowing everything, and choosing carefully what to do with it.

What He Offers

• The household map of the table. Which of Calcutta’s families are happy, which are frightened, which pay late.
• The passport. His good opinion travels ahead of a man through every servants’ quarter in Chowringhee.
• The gate. Nobody’s servant enters Garden Reach unassessed.

The Price

Questions answered about one’s own masters. The compound has already decided — wrongly, and conveniently — that the newcomers’ havildar reports to the Magistrate. Resting in that impression and correcting it are both choices, and both have costs.

Connections

• Charles Ashworth — his master of thirty years
• Havildar Pratap Singh — vetted, then briefed him on the table
• Garden Reach — the house he runs
• Ratan — a visiting bearer at his fires, and the spoons that went missing under his roof

Appearances

Relationships

• Serves Charles Ashworth — Thirty years running the Magistrate's house. Runs every evening it holds
• Located at Garden Reach — Khansama of the estate; the household turns on him
• Knows Havildar Pratap Singh — Vetted him at the gate and then gave him the full assessment of the table's households, politely, thoroughly and first