Shantaram :: A Heartfelt Journey!!!

Category:: Book Review
Source/Inspiration:: Gregory n his Amazing Life...

"I've lived in palaces, I've lived on the street, on a sheet of newspaper for a bed, in a doorway, and I've lived in five-star hotels for months at a time..."  :: Gregory David Roberts in an interview.


If Alchemist says follow the heart then Shantaram is the guy who indeed takes you on such a wonderful journey...
Meet our Australian mate who can appreciate the beauty even in the filth in the slums of Mumbai...
Not many of us were able to peel into these less deprived one's lives...
His love for Mumbai can be smelt on every page of his novel...Its a wonderful opportunity to see his unique characters in the city of dreams through his unconventional eyes...

As the story goes forward we tend to get more n more jealous for this guy who went through so many contrasts of life and that too,so heroically...
It feels amazing as in how someone can keep smiling after such stomach churning phases of life...
He do have the guts to accept the bare truth of his being a convicted armed robber, a drug smuggler and forger, constantly reflecting on the many bad choices that he has made and calling his act of armed robberies as a coward act. Isn't this what life is...Mistakes...reflections...and moving forward.Such an acceptance indeed feels gr8 and demands an appreciative gesture for this prodigy of fate...

Some words on the novel and its amazing characters...

 It has a very simple,plain yet beautiful language...It feels like a memorable journey and the reader just sails through the amazing canvas of events with the writer,LinBaba, as our Prabhaker correctly calls him.Shantaram aka Lin Baba acknowledges that most of his characters like Prabhaker and Karla are self created and about the events that some like Sapna Killing were not for real.
However we all know he went through these events in some quarters of his life...And every novel in that sense is the reflection of events happened to you or around you at some time which is what writer pens...

And here his penned characters are glimpses and parts of his journey to India and indeed one will realize through the novel how wonderfully depicted characters are they...
From the philosophical Didier...who seems to be sitting still in some corner seat of Leopold grabbing his mug of beer and passing his wisdom pearls to his gang...to the green-eyed Karla roaming around Colaba with the mysteries around her as in the way her character faints and resurrects with the revelations at the end in the novel...From the RichestAndWidest-smile-holding Prabhaker driving cab through the streets in South Mumbai with his funnily-tooti-Frooti English to the Haji Mastan style commanding Don,a father figure to Shantaram, The Kader Bhai with his complexity theory...And not to forget the real macho of the gang,the chap from Iran, Abdullah Taheri..You can sense every single one of them in the nooks and corners of the lanes of Mumbai and every walk of the city through their expressions....


This one claims neither to be a Dan Brown-thriller nor to be a Paulo Cohello-spiritual ride...It comes out as a enjoyable ride with enough bumps and breaks to enjoy the fun and adventure on the way...

N it reveals Indian Mafiadom of 80's , a world not really exposed everyday to many of us...But at its core this novel carries an anti-violence message and absolute honesty..Its a damn honest novel...It tells you to love relations and finding meaning in life...its down to earth to its core...its detailed to its heart...Beware:::Some may not like that much honesty and 'I am this and I accept it loud' attitude and some may not like such an optimistic style throughout...
Coming to the pace of the book....it had a thriller's pace in parts while a philosophical slow pace in parts too...It sometimes asks you to rush through but most of the times it demands to savor the moments..to contemplate on the reflections on life...to slow down your fast paced life a bit...

Would definitely like to get one audio book too in Roberts own voice...


Some words on the events n places...

The visit to the Prabhaker's village....his keen observations with Rukmabai who christened his name...
His philosophical discussions at Khader Bhai's places...
It seems like you yourselves are on a journey with LinBaba...from the lone survivor times in prisons to his medical clinic days when he heals and touches many untouched lives,from afganistan war to the moment when all the layers of secrets get revealed to you one by one...And these all events makes it damn enjoyable read...  Shantaram seems to be spread on the large canvas of life like a bollywood movie...with enough drama and suspense needed here n there... N indeed that is what makes it so damn entertaining..
As per Gregory all events really happened except a few, but have probably been "novelized".

About Mumbai,India....
His love 4 Mumbai...His love for the Indian people whom he terms as people ruled by the Heart...its calmness in the noise...Beauty of south mumbai especially colaba lanes to haji ali and the quiet in the storming waves of the sea coast described so well...


And to chose India the land of so many traditions...cultures...regions...land of varied tastes and climates...with Mumbai as the base location where you can see India in a glance from the rags to richest stories...from the temples to mumbai mafia dons...it has so much and everything of this is so so well described...


Special mentions for some parts::

Description of Prabhaker's face.
I loved the parts when he taught the street fighting rules...
How well he describes his junkie days and the cold turkey of heroine...

N dialogues like:::


"They have the look of people who do not masturbate but who think about it almost all the time...."
"The worst thing about corruption as a system of governance is that it works so well."
"Happiness is a myth. It was invented to make us buy things.”

N Thousands of such one liners....

I also love whenever he says...
"Karla once said..." and even for that matter all of the Didier's philosophically coated sharp comments...


To wrap it all I would rephrase as heard somewhere... 
"If I’m lucky, I’ll enjoy the tale. If I’m fortunate, I’ll learn something"

I have enjoyed as well as learnt much and many things from it...

N now this novel has its permanent place at the corner of my shelf..and whenever it calls me for a re-read, I would gladly do that anytime...