Aurangabad is a north-of-Bombay stop in Lin and Prabaker’s journey back to the city. Its episode brings together shabby hospitality, illicit drinking, sudden street violence, and the practical vulnerability of being short of money: Lin has to sell his watch to settle the hotel bill and continue the journey.

Setting and Stay

The pair stay at the Apsara Hotel, a building more than a hundred years old whose grand proportions recall a more splendid age. High, wide rooms open onto balconies facing a busy street, and their cornices and ceiling rosettes retain fine detail. The contrast is in the hotel’s neglect: its furniture is a haphazard collection, the corridor carpet has worn into shaggy holes, and dirt and peeling paint mark the walls. The rooms are cheap, which makes the old hotel a practical overnight stop on the way back to Bombay.

Drinking on the Outskirts

Prabaker takes Lin to an unlicensed bar about an hour’s walk beyond the last bus stop on the town’s outskirts. The bar is a hovel with one narrow stone bench, crowded with workers, farmers, and lawbreakers drinking over-proof homemade alcohol. The men endure it with grimaces and gagging, and the drinking becomes a collective test of endurance rather than a pleasure. After Prabaker manages his fifth glass, one drinker stands in the middle of the room and begins to sing; the others cheer, and the men recognize that they are drunk. Lin and Prabaker are still singing on the dark road back when a white Ambassador car passes, turns around, and blocks their path.

Roadside Attack

Four men get out while a fifth remains behind the wheel. The tallest grabs Lin’s shirt and barks at him in Marathi; when Lin answers, another man punches him in the face. Lin and Prabaker fight back, but the attackers knock them down and rain blows and kicks on them. Prabaker throws himself toward the men to shield Lin, is knocked down, and rises only to be struck again. The assault turns the return from an evening of drinking into a struggle to get away from the attackers and make it back to the hotel.

Departure and Significance

With no money for the bill or their onward journey, Lin proposes selling his watch. Prabaker warns that a hotel manager is unlikely to offer a fair price, but the sale covers the Apsara Hotel charge and leaves enough for two or three days at the India Guest House in Bombay. They pack and leave the hotel intending to catch the night train. Aurangabad therefore marks a precarious interruption in their return: the pleasures of companionship and song give way to violence, while the watch becomes the concrete means by which Lin and Prabaker can settle their immediate debt and continue on.