* **Shantaram is a true story, by Gregory David Roberts, a
convicted Australian prisoner who escaped from a high security prison in Australia.
It is based on his life during the 80s in Mumbai (erstwhile Bombay),
the city he came to love with all his heart, where he made friends, lived in
slums and later became an integral member of the prevailing Bombay
mafia (dealing with black money, forging documents, gold smuggling etc.).
Living in slums he came face-to-face with the adversities the impoverished face
with generosity, while the mafia connection brought him a fatherly figure.
The mafia nexus later inspired him to take part in a fight which was not his own,
for the Mujaheddins in Afghanistan
against the Russians from which he returned back scathed and hurt. In between,
he managed to learn Hindi, Marathi and even a little bit of Urdu and Pashto! He
also managed to find love in the country he called his own, however his real
love remained the spirit, simplicity and open-heartedness of Bombay.
A true, heart wrenching and inspiring book, full of human
spirit that even makes Robert Ludlum’s fiction seem modest at times! Gregory
David Roberts is an author who rivals the likes of Henri Charriere, Tom Wolfe
and Mario Vargos Llosa in presentation as well as in spirit! A must read.