Sukhdev, Tilak Raj and Antaryami may be very different people, but their reaction to one question is amazingly identical. If you ask about their 40-odd days in captivity, each one stops you mid-sentence to specify: ‘‘42’’. When each moment is a stretch, there is a big difference between 40 days and 42. Also, their 41st and 42nd days in captivity were very different from the first 40. On the evening of what they now know was August 31, the leaders of the group holding them hostage came calling, accompanied by photographers. ‘‘Inshallah,’’ they said. ‘‘If all goes well, you will be free tomorrow.’’ The hostages were stunned. The guards, who had become fairly friendly by now—they had endured their own version of captivity in the safe houses—patted them on their backs. The group leaders gifted them copies of the Koran, an event faithfully captured on camera. No one slept that night. The hostages, who had seen their hopes of freedom rise and fall at least three times over the past 41 days, did not want to jinx the occasion by thinking ahead. Most of them had no packing to do as all their belongings had been taken away from them on the day of their capture. Only the Egyptian had miraculously retained his bag. Sukhdev, Tilak Raj and Antaryami treated themselves to long baths that night. At 7 a.m., they left their fifth safe house in Fallujah and headed towards Baghdad. This time, their hands were not tied and they were not forced to tuck their faces between their knees. The vehicle, though, had tinted glasses. But there were still a couple of twists left in the tale.
