Shantaram Chapter 31 Summary

  • Nazeer wakes up Lin and they head to the airport on their way to Pakistan for the first part of their Afghan mission.
  • At the hotel in Karachi, Nazeer freaks out, thinking that there are Russian spies everywhere. He sends Lin out to a meeting at a market. When he gets there, he sees Khaled Ansari waiting for him. They do some soul-searching about the morality of what they're doing.
  • After they drink some faloodha, a sweet drink, they take off, walking away in opposite directions. Khaled zooms back up in a cab with another guy, Ahmed Zadeh, to pick up Lin.
  • Khaled gives Lin a letter from Didier, and the three go to a mosque to pick up another member of their mission, Mahmoud Melbaaf, before meeting up with Khader.
  • At the mosque, they find out that the police have visited Lin's hotel, but that Nazeer got out with Lin's bag just in time.
  • The Blind Singers perform. Lin finds out that everyone on the mission was there the first night he ever heard them, with Khader, who has been planning the mission at least since then.
  • Lin feels betrayed, like Khaderbhai's been playing him, and almost cries when he confronts the older man. Khaderbhai tells him he can't go back to his hotel because the police have his description.
  • Finally, remembering the letter from Didier, Lin reads it and finds out that the woman who had him thrown into prison was Madame Zhou. He tears up the letter.