Amiable-abduction invitation

The Amiable-abduction invitation is a recurring social custom in Lin’s Bombay life: friends urge him to come along, often without saying where they are going or why. Its friendly urgency makes the summons feel like an abduction, but Lin’s experience gradually changes its meaning. What begins as uncertainty becomes a way of placing trust in people and in the unplanned journey itself.

The Unexplained Summons

For months in the slum, Lin encounters invitations that offer no itinerary or reason. The familiar appeal is simply, “You come now!” He resists a few times at first, but the journeys prove invariably worthwhile and often interesting, enjoyable, or important. Their value is not disclosed in advance; it emerges only after he agrees to go.

The custom asks Lin to accept a gap in his knowledge. He does not know the destination, the purpose, or sometimes how or when the excursion will end. Rather than resolve that uncertainty with explanations, his friends rely on smiling urgency and his willingness to accompany them.

Learning to Trust the Journey

Lin connects this Bombay practice to his earlier experiences of riding in cars with friends in Australia and New Zealand. Loud music and shared travel feel familiar, yet the company makes this particular ride different: he is with Abdel Khader Khan, an older and powerful man, as well as Abdullah Taheri. The combination of recognizable pleasure and unfamiliar social circumstances leaves Lin both at ease and unsettled.

On this occasion, Lin is stoned, does not know where the car is headed, and realizes they are travelling toward Tardeo, away from his home in the Colaba slum. Even so, he recognizes the journey as another instance of the amiable abduction he has come to accept. He reflects that he has learned to relax, submit to the uncertainty, and trust his instincts; the friends who have taken him on such journeys have never hurt or disappointed him.

A Practice Repeated

The invitation recurs when Abdel Khader Khan tells Lin, “Come, I will tell you when we get there.” The promise of a later explanation preserves the custom’s defining uncertainty while making the terms plain: Lin is to come now and learn the destination upon arrival. He agrees to go, and they leave the hut together.

Johnny Cigar has evidently been eavesdropping when they step outside. Lin tells him he will be away for a while and asks him to keep the children away from the medicines, including dangerous new supplies Lin has put on the shelves. The ordinary responsibility of the clinic travels with Lin into the unknown outing: accepting an invitation does not mean abandoning the people and tasks entrusted to him.