Original subtitles

When you're travelling, you can't judge people on appearance.

You have to trust people.

But there was something that made me feel edgy about life.

But then, you know, you're in India. Everything makes you nervous.

And then just sitting there holding the gun, stroking the gun, and sort of

immediately just put it to my head. And I thought I was a second away from being

shot.

It's a very strange feeling.

It's a liberating experience.

Not thinking you're about to die, but knowing you're dead.

God bless you.

India has always been the ultimate travel experience, the real ground

traveller.

It's a real visceral assault on the senses.

It's intense, it's non -stop.

It's squalid, but it's vibrant, and it's rich, and it's poor at the same time.

It's everything you can imagine rolled into one.

India's something you can't prepare for.

I'd been in the UK for a long time, and I just decided that I needed a big

change in my life.

Ultimately, I was heading out to Australia and thought I'd just take in

as possible on the way there.

And I really felt like this was a great start.

Going on Paragan has been sort of the focal point of travel.

You know there's cheap accommodation there, you know there's cheap food, and

know there's going to be a heap of travellers.

I was having a beer in the rooftop restaurant of Harry Christian Hotel and

young Indian -looking guy came over.

When you're sitting down having a quiet beer and someone comes over and

introduces himself, you think nothing of it.

I'm Reece, by the way. Oh, how do you do?

I'm Rohit.

Rohit. Rohit Sharma.

Good to meet you. Good to meet you too. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, Wachowski.

I like him a lot.

We started chatting, as you do with travellers, you know, always friendly,

always happy to engage with someone, especially if he was Indian or appeared

be Indian.

So you're actually from Delhi?

No, no, no, I'm from London. Why don't you tell?

He talked about coming from two different worlds. Obviously he was

be Indian, but he was in actual fact Pakistani and having that background and

having an English background.

created quite a contradiction.

You know, when I'm in England, I should feel more Indian.

But when I'm here, I should feel English.

And that was something that I think I related to being half Australian and

English. Hey, you know what, Reece? I'm getting a little bit bored of this game.

Let's not wrestle.

Are you serious?

I'll show you how serious I am.

Come on.

I'm not sure.

Ready? No.

One, two, three, go.

We clearly did develop quite a friendship.

Come on, Rhys.

And I think friendships when you travel can be a lot stronger than friendships

in everyday life.

Sorry, Rhys.

I think you need to work on your biceps.

Yeah, thanks for that.

I spent a bit of time with Rohit, and Rohit played a bit of chess, but I did

notice straight away that he was taking it very seriously.

Oh, you bugger, that's my queen.

You need to pay more attention, Reed.

You think, oh, I'd just like to beat you, just to put you in your place a

bit. So you're going to go and visit this family of yours, or are you just

to stay here in Delhi?

He started mentioning that he had relatives in northern India.

Well, actually, I'm thinking about going to see my uncle next week.

He's got some property, you see, and he's thinking about giving some to me.

Actually, you know what? I don't even know the fellow.

Now, why don't you come with me? Give me some really support.

In a place like Paraganj, it's easy to meet the locals.

So meeting someone who appeared to be Indian but also had that British

background was a great opportunity.

Rhys, there's so much to do out there, you know?

Actually, I insist you come, Rhys.

You will have such a good time and it's a free lift in your direction.

What do you say? This was a new experience for him as well and he really

someone to go with him.

Sure.

Thank you.

Good memories.

Yeah. You might lose this game, though.

Yeah, no, I'm aware of that.

I can remember there was something that made me feel edgy about the guy. And you

can't really put your finger on it.

But then, you know, you're in India.

Everything is totally confusing and unfamiliar.

Everything makes you nervous.

I remember seeing the vehicle and the guys in the vehicle, and one of the guys

looked like an Afghani, a very big guy with a big bushy beard.

These are just some friends of my uncle's, OK?

When you're travelling, you can't judge people on appearance, but I looked at

him. He just had that hard, heavy look about him.

With the benefit of hindsight, I probably wouldn't have got into the van.

But, you know, there and then, you make a decision, and you've got to live with

it.

We drove for quite a while, and I was definitely starting to question whether

was a good idea to do this.

But I've sort of committed to this now.

I mean, if you want to stay at home and rate yourself a cotton ball, then you're

never going to experience anything.

So you have to trust people to a certain extent, and you have to take a little

bit of a leap of faith.

But I was growing increasingly about Rohit. The more the way he was reacting

me personally, the more the way he looked at me and...

He'd touch me occasionally and things like this.

The first thing that I thought was that he was gay.

But I'm not homophobic, so it wasn't going to stop me.

That's part of what travelling is. You're outside your comfort zone.

And it stimulates me.

When we stopped for lunch, I did have a desire to just grab my stuff and take

off.

Put your bag here. It will be fine.

Please. So I thought, okay.

We went in and ordered a meal and shared it together.

Soft girls, Henry.

I like your bracelet.

Yeah, some girl gave it to me.

Do you have a girlfriend?

I knew something was up, but I didn't think I was in that much trouble that

would warrant, you know, giving up all my gear and having to start again.

I was trying to quash those feelings and be calm and relaxed. The only reason

that I didn't just say, right, that's it, I'm out of here, was polite.

I love your food.

Yeah, it's good, thanks.

I was getting a free lift with this guy and I didn't want to be that rude.

I made a decision, and it was a rational decision.

Let's keep going. This will be okay.

As we went further north, the landscape was getting a little bit more rural.

I wasn't enjoying it. I thought, this is great. This is definitely sort of

pushing the boundaries a little bit.

And then all of a sudden I stopped.

I thought, this is odd. What's going on here?

What's going on?

Something wrong with the engine, so they're going to try and restart it.

And I sort of peeked in to see what they were doing.

And I just thought, no, this is ridiculous.

There's definitely something going on here.

But, you know, I'm in the middle of India and there's just nowhere to go.

There's no cover.

And, yeah,

what could I do at that point?

I was honestly scared, but underlying it all, there would be this

homosexual rape.

Right, let's go.

It was around about dusk that we got into the home. We went through the town

then disappeared off between the houses.

Rocket and I got out of the vehicle and he led me into the house.

The one thing I didn't want to happen was to be left alone with this guy.

And that was pretty scary in itself.

Sit down, Reeve.

At this point, his demeanor had changed a little bit, and he was very, very

nervous.

There's something, um... There's something that I've got to talk to you

Reeve.

You've become good friends, haven't you, Wreath?

And I thought, you know, after more than just my company.

You're a smart man.

Things haven't quite been as I led you to believe.

What's going on?

You see, I need to ask a favor of you, Wreath.

I have come to India not as a visitor, but with a particular intention.

Where's your uncle? You know where the Mujahideen is?

No, I don't.

Mujahideen.

He tells me that... He's a holy warrior. And he also tells me I'm here for a

reason. We are Kashmiri separatist revolutionaries, Rhys.

And you are going to help us with a specific purpose.

And all of a sudden his true agenda was apparent.

He was going to use me as a bargaining tool.

These Indians are holding our brothers, Rhys.

And now we want them released.

The realisation of what's actually happening at this point is kind of

becoming apparent to me.

Are you seriously talking about you want to take me hostage?

It will only be for a short while while the British government exerts pressure

on the Indians.

How's holding me going to help liberate Kashmir? That doesn't make any sense.

They won't talk to you, the British government.

Don't capitulate me. They will take notice. And America.

Now it is time for them all to listen.

What's he doing?

I know I was ready to fight my way out of it.

But then when you're confronted with three guys with a gun.

The initial shock of being taken and tied up is more terrifying than you

possibly comprehend.

It's just such a terrible feeling, and you never appreciate your own freedom

until it's really taken away from you like that.

Reef, you will be looked after.

As long as you cooperate.

Sorry about this, Reef.

Sincerely, it's not impersonal.

I can remember lying there with my mind just reeling and reeling.

And eventually, you know, fatigue gets the better of you and you do go to

I was dreaming about other parts of my life.

And then this recollection of the previous day's event came back to me.

thought, oh, surely that's a big, horrid dream.

But then you realise, no, it's not.

I could see that he was troubled by what he was doing.

He felt the betrayal, I think, more than I did.

Got a lot in common, haven't we, Rhys?

I was trying to play on that friendship with him and be understanding towards

his causes.

And I think there was a slight chance of me talking my way out of it.

Look, we've got a lot in common. It's just a difficult scenario for both of

Do you know what the martyr is, Rhys?

Yes.

It's someone who is...

prepared to sacrifice themselves for the greater cause, Reese, for God.

Next one is any God -commander to disrupt a guy and kidnap to earth.

You're so naive, Reese.

Do you believe everything the media feeds you?

And I've got this man. I can't reason with him.

This is insanity.

You have time now, Reese.

Perhaps everything will become clear to you.

After realising that any appeal to Rohit's better nature was just a waste

time, I was thinking about ways of getting out.

They said that they'd take the chains off if I proved that I could behave

myself.

And so after a couple of days, they allowed me to just have the one chain on

ankle.

But even still, I'm still stuck in this tiny little room.

I was very stuffy and infested with mosquitoes.

One of the things I wanted to do was get a bit more free rein and

get out into the larger room.

So I started acting up. To begin with, I was just saying, look, you know, I

can't stay here. And then what I decided to do was I started to pretend to be

getting a bit crazy, acting as crazy as I could.

Thank you very, very much.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank

you.

sleep in that outside room.

I've been in that small room for about a week.

When I was in the larger room, that was when my determination really set in.

My mind was racing, trying to figure out any possible way of getting out.

Some of the guards were pretty serious guys and they'd keep an eye on me and

watch them and then as soon as they'd walk across

the courtyard I'd go and just scratch a little bit away and I had about 8 to 12

seconds to do that.

and then go and sit back down. It took me about a week constantly

doing this, sneaking over, graphing a little bit out.

That whole section of the wall was weakened to the point where it would be

enough to, when you're ready,

pull the bricks out, rip the funeral out and then squeeze through.

I'm going to get out of this.

Mate, mate, do you have any paracetamol?

You know, paracetamol? I have a headache. You know, like, you know,

or something.

There's some in my bag.

I'd hidden this little mini hacksaw blade in my medical kit.

So I knew that, you know, I could cut the chain.

There was two Kashmiri guards who were quite young, didn't seem to be quite as

fanatical as the others.

After what he came, quite relaxed with me, he'd leave the room and get on the

roof like, and when he was doing that, that was when I thought, right, I'm

to start cutting my chain.

And when I did that, my heart just rang.

But it wasn't elation, it was fear, because I'm really committed.

to this now, I bent the chain back and it was clearly visible.

So for the next few days I had to make sure that when I sat down that bit of

chain was hidden.

I was pretty scared once I'd done that because they'd made it very clear that

I make an attempt to escape, they can kill me.

Once I cut my chain, it allowed me to go across the room, cut a few more bricks

out.

and get it to the point where I thought, right, this is it. I've just got to

pick my moment.

My heart was driven to Dr Grace.

Okay, is this it?

Can I go? Can I go?

You're dead if you stay here.

You're dead if you mess this up.

I cut my chain and I knew there was enough of a gap in the wall to get

But then my heart sank.

They decided that the wall needed to be rendered.

And I thought, that's it.

That's it. I'm dead.

When he touched the bricks, obviously my heart was doing a million beats a

minute.

He noticed the bricks were loose and stopped for a second.

Just blasted over the top.

without saying anything to the other guard.

I felt totally deflated.

It was a very emotional point for me.

There was one particular guard who was very dangerous. He was clearly

fanatically Islamic.

But I also thought, you know, he's only a small, slight guy. I could probably

easily overpower him and then get out.

Even now, when I think about it, my heart starts racing.

You've got this opportunity, but if you stuff it up, you're dead.

The only way I can see is

get up on the roof and jump off the roof.

I'd been in a very anxious state for quite a long time, knowing there's a

possibility of getting out, but not having quite the right time to take it.

Right,

who's that?

And then Rohit turned up with two more hostages looking very proud and pleased

with himself. And at this point, my hopes of getting out pretty much

The thinking feeling I had when they turned up was just quite horrendous, you

know, for them and for myself.

Could show a bit more gratitude.

I just got sick of the idiot and told him exactly what I thought.

Die.

Where do you get off on using this kind of language, Rhys?

What kind of society has raised you to speak this way?

And our relationship kind of went downhill from there.

I don't think you're in any position to question my morals.

I'm sorry, Rhys.

But this will continue.

Until our brothers are released, I will go on. And on and on and I will take

more pictures.

How many wrote?

It's not a simple question of numbers, Rhys.

It's a matter of nationality.

It was then that I realised that he was getting a real feel for this. He would

keep doing it. He had the deepest hatred of the US and he made it clear that he

was going to go out there and try and find Americans.

What about in England?

Not from America.

Oh, really, really.

I have been traveling on my own for five months.

I had this incredible experience that very few people have had.

I was down to my last couple days in India before my visa was going to

And I was enjoying my meal, enjoying the sun and being outdoors and the sounds

and the sights.

And then this young man came up to my table.

Excuse me, do you mind if I sit down? Sure.

He was well -dressed and neatly groomed. He had glasses on, so of course I

immediately thought he was a studio type.

Oh, my name is Rohit.

Rohit. Hi, I'm Bella.

He was very, very polite, very thoughtful, very charming.

So, Bella, have you had a chance to meet many Indian people while you've been on

holiday? Well, you know, I've met a few.

When we got together the next day, one of the things I told him was that I was

little disappointed that I had never been invited into the home of a local

person. Listen, my uncle's having a big party tomorrow night. It's just north of

Delhi. I mean, you'd be more than welcome to come if you're interested.

Really? Yeah.

I was a little surprised, but I accepted the invitation. I thought, oh, that

would be wonderful.

We arranged to meet the following day, and I had went out and bought a box of

chocolates to take with me as a gift.

Assalamu alaikum.

Hi.

I'm a friend of Sadiq.

And there were two people there.

They seemed very polite.

We were in car prep, 10 minutes.

We were already a bit outside of the city, and they pulled over, and there

a couple guys on the side of the road who got in the van.

He explained that these were...

a couple people he knew and that he was going to give them a lift and i really

didn't think that was that unusual give it a second thought

every once in a while one of the fellows in the front would kind of turn

around and smile i was excited i thought this was going to be really nice i was

just so happy that i had the chance to do this

One of them turned around and took the box of chocolates out of my lap. And I

thought, this is nice. He wants to see what I brought.

And then Rohit turned towards me and he grabbed my wrist.

Okay. It's important that you listen very carefully.

You need to do exactly what I tell you.

One minute I'm observing this fellow taking the cake. The next minute I see

Rohit's grabbing my hand.

And then the next minute I look forward and there's a gun pointed at me.

I immediately asked him, what's that?

I knew it was a gun, but I had never seen one in real life. This guy's got

gun like really poked deeply in my ribs.

And Rohit's still got my wrist and he's just telling me. You need to do exactly

what I tell you to do.

Because if you don't, we won't hesitate to kill you.

Relax.

My body just was sort of coming apart.

It felt like I was simultaneously having a heart attack, like I was just going

to grow up.

I was probably hyperventilating.

The best way I could describe it was like a really bad aftertrip.

One minute I had reality, and the next minute reality had disappeared.

It was a burka over me.

Inder, Inder, get inside.

For my own survival, I needed to just sit back and do what I was told.

And at some point, we were slowing down, and I saw up ahead there was some kind

of guard or soldier or something.

I'm going to go over this checkpoint again.

Don't say a word.

Just keep your mouth shut.

Understand?

His main concern was to keep me calm, that I wouldn't freak out and do

that would spoil their plan.

It really didn't enter my mind to do anything stupid.

After that point where they had put something over my eyes, I was like, I'm

going for the rest of the trip.

Rohit had told me that they had three Brits.

But once we arrived at the house, I saw that I would be there alone.

It's because I'm American.

Is there anything you need, Bella?

I can bring you a book or a journal to write in.

How long are you planning to keep me here?

Bella, don't worry about it. You will be released.

Chalo.

Chalo.

And then when we were alone, one of the last things he told me before he left

was he said,

Bella, it's not me you should fear.

The Indian army comes and storm this place at some point.

You better watch your back.

Because they will kill you to make it look bad.

So that was always in the back of my mind. That wasn't very reassuring.

was now in serious jeopardy.

I had two other people to consider, and it occurred to me that if I did make a

run for it, what would happen to them?

They'd probably kill them.

The guard was very diligent about watching us, and he came in and checked

everybody's chain.

And I thought, well, okay, that's it.

It's over.

What? Amish boy!

Amish boy!

Stand up!

Stand up!

That was pretty firm that they were going to shoot me at that point.

Come here.

I remember Paul looking at me and he just had this look on his face. It was

horror.

How did you do this?

They wanted to know how Captain changed.

And I wouldn't tell them.

And I

thought

I was a second away from being shot.

You are fortunate that I am merciful.

I am going to let you live.

And I thought, that's very gracious of you.

It's a very strange feeling.

It's a liberating experience.

Not thinking you're about to die, but...

knowing you're dead.

On the tenth day they came and I was unchained and I was led outside into the

little outdoor area.

They're all faces are covered and one of them's got a gun to my head.

They explained that the photograph was there so that they had proof to take to

the press.

They were obviously going to use it to issue their demands.

He came back to the house periodically and, you know, I asked him how things

were going.

You contacted the embassy yet?

As a matter of fact, I have.

We contacted them and we told them.

If our men aren't released, we're going to be at the hostage.

Now perhaps they will listen.

It's obvious that the Indian government is not going to release militants for a

few dodgy western backpackers.

They're not going to capitulate to a bunch of terrorists.

That's their policy and that's black and white. You know that for certain.

There's been footage posted on the internet of Islamic militants beheading

hostages and it's the most horrific.

In every kidnap situation I had read, the American authorities always said, we

will not negotiate with terrorists.

And I didn't see why this would be any different, especially, you know, one

lonely American.

At that point, I started thinking a lot about my life and the possibility of

getting killed.

Had I touched anybody? Had I affected people in any good way?

And I guess I felt a little sad that I hadn't done something more.

And I thought, well, if these guys kill me, I'm never found.

And my family, they never know.

The thought of them never knowing what happened to me, that was very painful.

The sadness that would cause them, the grief, that was hard.

I was pretty low. I was about as low as I've gotten in my life.

But I just was not about to let myself stay in that state of mind.

So I decided to stop eating.

I didn't know how long I would last, but I was ready to do it a long, long time.

If it led to my own death,

In a way it would have been my choice to die.

By that point I

was very, very sick.

I mean, amoebic dysentery will kill you eventually, and I'd had that for about

three weeks.

I think considering how sick I was, I probably wouldn't have survived much

longer.

I heard this banging on the gate, and I realized something's not right here.

And then at that point, I started thinking,

geez, these guys are going to hightail it out of here. I hope they don't kill

before they sort of wipe out the evidence.

Hey! At that point, a soldier leaned into the door.

I just threw my hands up and I pointed to the chain.

Yes, where's the key?

That.

And this fellow who found the key, he came over and he unlocked the lock.

And then he re -locked it.

And my alarm really went off at that point.

The thing that resurfaced in my mind was the last thing Rohit had told me was

that I shouldn't be surprised if the Indian Army stormed this house and

me in an attempt to make Rohit and his people look bad.

I woke up very suddenly.

very early hours of the morning on November the 1st to a couple of large

explosions outside.

The next thing we heard was gunfire, and quite a lot of it.

At that moment, the doors, the windows were closed.

Terrorists backed in. They were returning fire.

But for about a few hours, I just grabbed hold of my arm and went

straight towards the latrine.

To get there, we had to run through the line of fire.

Watching them get away bothered me. I really wanted to see them get what they

deserved.

When the Indian police actually started moving into the building, I just

thought, you know, as soon as they see us, they're going to fire.

And I was quick and late.

English.

I was very lucky he didn't shoot me.

When the officer finally let me go outside and sit outdoors and breathe the

and sit in the sun, it was hard to describe the relief I felt.

Eventually, after they'd got the chains off, we left the room where I'd been for

32 days.

and went out into the courtyard.

I can remember just looking up at the sky and that was...

It

was just incredibly profound, you know, being outside.

When we found out that they had got him, there was a huge weight lifted.

I was so pleased to know that they had him.

I hoped that was the end of it, but I kind of knew it wouldn't be.

There was something that just said to me, they said, no, he's too valuable,

too important.