But did like all coolies in 1953 own enamel cups? And it had some special meaning for us or something?
I know that you live in perpetual embarrassment of being connected to the "unwashed" Indian masses but enamel wasn't confined to Indians, nor was it even confined to Guyana. It wouldn't surprise me whether it was also used in the South in those days.
Enamel doesn't break. China does. Poor people in those days couldn't afford to replace every plate or cup that broke. In fact my father, who grew up as the son of a head master, had embedded in him that breaking a plate was some great tragedy. We literally lived in fear of his voice if we accidentally dropped a plate. It isn't that he couldn't afford to replace it. It was part of his upbringing that having to replace these items because of carelessness was something to be avoided.
Now imagine if he grew up as the son of a stevedore in an era when stevedores starved.