Shantaram is a novel written by a poet who is profoundly in love with words. Divided into five parts, which are flowing into each other, like sun reflection flows on the surface of the ocean, ready to submerge in its vastness
A story defined by a nameless man who is caged in his vastness of crimes and fears, which are committed not due to greed or vehemence but a strict hatred of self, despising his own existence and his own past and fighting for his elixir his ’freedom, ’ believing in actions which in its truest forms are the penance necessary to be paid, to embark onto the road of redemption and the only answers, to the questions which plagues his tumultuous mind ....
The novel which finds its love in the expressionless eyes of ’Karla’ and the beautifully woven words spoken by ’Abdel Kadher Khan, ’ greatly embraces its love for Violence which is crafted so exquisitely and splendidly that reminiscing it gives me goosebumps. Description of Violence in this epic matches the crescendo of Beethoven’s symphony and is equivalent to the art perfected by the hands of Andy Warhol, the craft directed by the lens of Werner Herzog, the lines of poetry inked and made so visceral by Robert Frost, and the sublime work of ’Bard of Avon’ a.k.a William Shakespeare, of which to appreciate there’s no need to be a Merchant (of venice) or King (lear).
Brimming with literature of incessant metaphors and words written so precisely and preciously that it creates a class and a personality of its own, among the greats like ’The Godfather’ and ’The Sacred Games.’ The heart of this crime saga lies in the intricacies beaded together with blood-bonds, created in silences, which are made so fragile by the inevitable flow of time and the unspoken expressions which are burdened by pasts and hurts, so deep, that every expression expressed by a word becomes a monologue to a new story, and every page turned takes us closer to a new beginning and not to the end ....
It’s a landscape of dreams whose nuances are drawn by a protagonist and his counterparts, who describes India and its beloved ’Bombay (underbelly)’ vividly and its true spirit ....
It treads all these path effortlessly, breezing and gushing through it like tides on the patterns of sands - Unhindered and Unobstructed. A saga whose colors are its fleshed-out characters, who fill the canvas of India with eloquent brush strokes, painting a picturesque which is both melancholic and spiritual in its own unique way.
Many novels are said to be great by the accolades and the awards it garners around the world, but for Shantaram the awards and accolades are futile, as I and many like me who have read this masterpiece give it a prize, a prize of ’our memory, ’ a prize to always remember it when we talk about greats, when we talk about accomplishments and achievements and when we talk about triumph of the human spirit.
When I read the first few pages of this crime saga, I understood the fact that ’love at first sight’ only happens in the world of words and Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts is that word and is that world Ages and lifetimes are lost in the search of soul-mates, and on the path of finding the Almighty, the omnipresent, but when you are through these 936 pages, I Nitin-Manchanda solemnly swear, that your quest and quench for one true classic - novel will be lost. Your search will not just be over but fully annihilated.
MUST READ!!