The Stranglers of Bombay

When the green of the jungle was young,

when our fathers and their fathers, and their fathers before them,

were yet unborn, a monster walked this land.

He ate the young, the strong, the old.

The blood of our ancestors poured from the monster's mouth.

It poured like the water in the great river.

No-one dared battle with him.

No-one but Kali.

Kali! Kali!

Without fear, as her children are without fear,

she fought the monster upon this earth and cut him down.

But from each drop of his blood, a new monster spawned.

And Kali did battle with each new monster,

and cut them down.

But from their blood, new monsters arose.

To destroy them,

Kali knew she must kill without spilling any blood.

So she gave our ancestors

this sacred cloth, and said, "Kill!"

Kill! Kill! Kill!

They strangled the monsters. There was no blood.

And when the last one was strangled,

Kali left these for her children.

Through the centuries, your children have done your work.

And tonight, we bring you more of your sons to do your bidding.

Tonight, they join us.

Welcome your sons, great Kali,

whom I have raised for you since their boyhood.

Look upon them with favour as you have looked upon us.

They seek only to serve you, but if they displease you,

send us an omen that we may know of your displeasure.

Kali embraces her sons!

Kali! Kali! Kali!

When the harvest is gathered, your sons will be ready, great Kali.

Your sons will be ready!

Kali! Kali! Kali!

Come on, wake up, then!

- Are we all here? - All except Captain Lewis, sir.

We'll all suffocate before Lewis turns up.

I invited him to dinner once. He turned up the following day.

Let's get on with it, Colonel.

Very well. Now, gentlemen?

We've asked Patel Shari to speak for us.

Patel?

I am most flattered that my friends should have seen fit

to call upon me as their spokesman.

After all, since the honourable East India Company

extended its control over this territory, I am the patel,

the headman in name only.

However, the situation is so grave that I feel obliged to speak

as if I were the patel I was, instead of the patel I have become.

- Yes, yes, Shari, get on with it. - You are most impatient, Colonel.

I'm only anxious to get it over,

so that we can all get away to somewhere a bit cooler.

Cool, you want, is it? We're losing hundreds of pounds...

All right, Burns. You've agreed to let Patel Shari speak for you.

- I know, but I just wanted you to... - Then please let him speak.

Thank you, Colonel. It will not take long.

- Any sign of Lewis? - No, sir.

- Please, monsieur... - Not now, Dashi, I'm late for a meeting.

- But is there any word? - No word.

- The boy is the only son of my sister. - We're doing all we can.

- You must find him. - We'll try.

Burns sahib says the company can find nothing. Burns sahib...

Mr Burns is in the meeting now.

If you let me go, Dashi, I can find out everything he says.

An only son of an only sister.

I know.

My friends are not reluctant to pay for order and stability.

Order and stability facilitate commerce. They increase commerce.

And this, in turn, increases the taxes and revenues of your company.

All this being the case,

my friends are most surprised and disappointed

with the order and stability of our territory.

Shari's being far too kind, Colonel.

Surprised and disappointed? We're shocked, absolutely shocked.

- One of my shipments to... - Sorry, sir.

One of my shipments to Bhadora has completely disappeared.

Now, I've travelled pretty extensively in India, Colonel Henderson,

and I've never seen a hole large enough to swallow up horses,

carts of cotton, and people.

It's impossible for us to police the entire area between here and Bhadora.

What does that mean? Am I supposed to forget about my losses?

This is nothing new, is it? You've had these disappearances before.

And that makes it all right, does it? Come to India and disappear.

- Now, look here, Burns... - No, you look here.

We're sick of all the talk there's been on this subject.

We don't care what the problems are,

the extent of the area to be policed, the number of soldiers you have.

Those are entirely the problems of your company.

I don't ask your company to help me grow my crops.

All we know is the situation is becoming intolerable.

And I won't tolerate it.

If something isn't done soon, I shall put through a report

to your headquarters in Bombay.

I think Mr Burns to be absolutely right, sir.

- There you are. - I believe that the only possible...

- I think we'd better let Mr Burns finish. - Finish I will.

Finish paying my taxes and revenues,

unless something's done about the situation immediately.

The harvest will be in soon.

Our caravans must be able to proceed without undue molestation.

What do you mean, undue molestation?

I mean that we accept and expect the occasional robbery,

but these wholesale disappearances must cease.

- I agree. - We all agree with Mr Burns.

Then there's nothing further to discuss as far as I'm concerned.

Except perhaps we'd all be better off if Patel Shari were headman again.

Mr Burns, you flatter me too much.

Nonsense. Maybe you'd get something done.

- Good day. - Good day.

- Good day, Colonel. - Good day.

Good day.

Thank you, gentlemen.

Well?

It's very easy for Mr Burns to say he's not interested in our problems.

But there it is.

An almost impossible situation.

I'm afraid the company will find no revenue an even more impossible situation.

Where can a caravan disappear to? I mean, totally disappear.

- And people. - What was that, Lewis?

And people, sir.

- And people what? - Disappear.

During my time out here, I don't know how many people have been reported missing.

And it's the same in every territory, sir.

- People disappear in England. - Thousands a year, every year?

- How many? - Reported missing persons

in our territory alone last year totalled 1,119.

I sent you a report on it, sir.

- You did? - I sent it to London, sir.

- At your request. - And what did London reply?

They said they'd be delighted to tell us,

should anyone on the list appeared in St James's Street.

Well, Lewis, you seem to be the expert in missing persons.

What do you make of it? Have they deserted their families?

Indians never desert their families, sir, under any circumstances.

Well, where have they gone to?

And the cotton and silver,

horses and camels and carts and everything else.

- What's happened to them? - Sir?

- Speak up, Lewis. - Might I make a suggestion, sir?

Providing I can hear it.

Then I suggest that you appoint an officer with a small staff

to devote his entire time to finding what does happen.

And that he be relieved of all duties except finding out.

Well, that seems to be the most logical thing to do.

Good idea, Lewis.

Is there anything else?

It's too hot to go on with this today, eh?

Dismissed.

Catch the big cobra.

He's gone. Catch him.

Come on, catch him.

There, he's gone.

Oh, memsahib.

Come along, girl.

Did you deliver the letter for the master?

Of course, memsahib. Safely to the boat itself.

Good.

May I be excused to leave now, memsahib?

- It is time for Toki's supper. - Certainly, Ram Das.

Come on, Toki, come.

- Hello, Harry. - Mary.

Mary.

What is it, Harry? Is anything wrong?

Wrong? Things were never more right.

They had a meeting today, and they put their foot down.

- Who? - Mr Burns and the rest of the planters.

They said these wholesale disappearances must cease.

You used to chide me

for collecting the statistics on the number of persons missing, remember?

- Of course I remember. - Well, today, I was called

the expert on missing persons.

That's what Colonel Henderson called me, "the expert."

I suggested to him that he appoints an officer to devote his whole time

to investigating these disappearances, and he agreed.

And, darling, who's the obvious person to employ if not the expert?

This is going to be absolutely wonderful. Do you know what it means?

It means I can devote my whole time to this,

instead of just a few hours stolen after my regular work.

And I will. There's nothing haphazard about this, Mary, you know.

This is some kind of organised conspiracy.

I know it, and I'll find it out.

May I interrupt you for a moment to remind you of something?

Why, yes, of course. What is it?

That you had contemplated resigning from the company.

Oh, yes.

And you sent a letter to London

applying for a position with the Lloyd Shipping Company.

You want me to refuse this chance?

Look, I realise our financial position isn't as good as it might be

if I were engaged in private commerce.

And I know I'm not getting any younger.

I know if ever I'm going to make a move, now is the time to make it.

But Mary, this is something I've been working on for years.

- It's terribly important to me. - Yes, I know.

Today, Dashi stopped me in the street. He asked me for news of his nephew.

You remember, the boy who disappeared with Burns' caravan to Bhadora?

How many sad-eyed relatives in the last few years have come up to me?

You think I could take another job just for the additional money