Shantaram- written by Gregory David Roberts, is the true story of an Australian fugitive, who traveled to India from New Zealand on a fake passport, joined the Bombay mafia, and made India his home. In his own words, “I was a revolutionary who lost his ideals in heroin, a philosopher who lost his integrity in crime, and a poet who lost his soul in a maximum-security prison”. His story starts from when he lands at the Bombay airport and proceeds with his first descriptions of what he sees and smells. He is not a murderer, but was wanted for many criminal offences in Australia, and had left behind his wife and daughter and many friends in his bid for freedom.
The narrative is a moving and often familiar account of a person who seems to be very self-conscious, guilty of his past misdemeanors, and a compassionate and amicable human being. The rich description of what he feels as he sees, the characters that he loved- Prabhakar the guide and later closest friend, Karla the haunting mystery and love of his life, Abdullah the mafia accomplice bonded to him, his deep admiration and struggle with relating to Abdel Khader, kingpin among the mafia with whom he shared a father-son relationship, other foreigner friends settled in Bombay for their various social compulsions, the slum dwellers that he called family and who accepted and brought him into their lives with love and open arms, and his pride in learning fluent Hindi and Marathi. Whenever he mentions situations where Indians that he has met, being surprised by a gora who speaks their language so fluently, he has cited the pleasure they get in hearing him and their increased warmth in response to him.
There are instances when some portions of his tale are so moving, when he describes his struggle to cope with his emotions, both happy and violently sad, the gratitude that he feels and describes through sentiment, the need to associate and connect to the people around him, succeeds in creating a bond between yourself the reader and ‘Lin’, the name he uses from his fake New Zealand passport.
Lin has a philosophical bent of mind, being a writer himself, which can be seen in his relationship with Abdel Khader and his other mafia dealers, where he discusses the meaning of life, the meaning of his life, religion and politics. He is arrested in Bombay when an informant leaks the news of his status as a highly wanted fugitive with a price on his head, the hardships that he goes through, then the ‘pilgrimage’ to Afghanistan where he risks his life for what he believes in, is forced to sort out his beliefs and those about the people that he has come to love, and finally his return to Bombay, finally hardened and matured to himself.
At times the author is very objective and frank about his feelings, such as the shame he feels when he has to move into the slums of Bombay, and also when he takes good care of his fellow slum dwellers whom he considers his family, and is very modest about the work that he did there. He comes across as very human and gentle in nature. His need to feel accepted by the people around him, be they simple villagers who would respond to a nod of his head or the worst drug dealers who were floored by his linguistic skills- all help him create bonds between the people among whom he wants to belong and call his own.
Eventually he settles down into a relatively safe life of counterfeiting passports and documents, and is still settled in Bombay, a place that he loves, calls his home, and himself a Hindustani.
This book is one that truly changes ones perspective, sitting at home in comfortable lives as we are, into a world out there that’s a constant struggle between being ourselves and being something that is believed to be the right way to be.
Although one should not compare books, especially those of different genre’s, this book can be loosely described as an amazing mixture, better than Mario Puzo meets Richard Bach meets an author who is completely humble and very endearing.
Personally I was very moved at reading this story, and eagerly await any more books that the author chooses to write. This book can be recommended for anyone who has a love of reading, especially autobiographies, and I am sure that nobody can put this book down without feeling connected to Gregory David Roberts in some way. A marvelous peace of work.