There are classics and then there are classics. And when all classification of classics is complete, remain the books, that wil lnever be elevated to the status of classics, but are just too damned unputdownable to ignore!
“Shantaram: A Novel” is one such book! 936 pages of pure, unadulterated masala, crime, philosophy, friendship, love and betrayal… with a liberal dash of self-aggrandization thrown in for good measure!
Gregory David Roberts, an Australian fugitive on the run, lands in Bombay with an assumed name of Lindsay and instantly falls in love with the city as he encounters one interesting character after another…starting with his sidekick, Prabaker, the ever-smiling tourist guide who immediately christens him as ‘Lin’ or ‘Linbaba’ (because, he feels Lindsay is too big to be an Indian name). As the novel progresses, we’re introduced to Karla, the woman who Lin loves (and who claims to just ‘like’ Lin)…Abdullah Taheri, the Iranian-fighter-turned-mafia-strongarm with whom Lin shares a brotherly kinship… Didier, the flamboyantly gay Frenchman who loves his drinks and his one-liners… Abdul Khader Khan, the wise old mafia don who is like a father to Lin. There are many more people of course… many more! Each one of them, carefully fleshed out… lending them multi-dimensional personalities and not making them appear merely as flat caricatures.
The story moves ahead as Lin shifts his accommodation from a lodge to a slum (where he starts a free clinic) to a village in interior Maharashtra. It is there, in the village called Sunder that Prabaker’s mother christens Lin with an Indian name, ‘Shantaram’. Lin likes the slums, which he thinks have lots of virtues inspite (or because?) of the poverty. And he enjoys working selflessly in the slums, while on the other hand he comes into contact with some of the most powerful men in the Bombay underworld.
The story takes a sudden turn when Lin gets arrested by the police and is sent to the Arthur Road prison where the viciousness of the ruthless convict guards nearly costs him his life. After this prison term, Lin plunges into the Bombay underworld, with the blessings ofAbdul Khader Khan, as he gets trained in various disciplines of blackmarketing, counterfeiting and smuggling.
And the excitement, surprises and twists continue unabated as the scene shifts from Bombay to Afghanistan where Lin and his mafia masters travel to supply weapons to the Mujahideen.
Roberts wields his pen with a flourish as he sketches an extremely detailed account of his experiences as a fugitive, masked with a some colourful and very exciting fiction. The result is an entertaining potboiler that is an autobiography, a travelogue, a love story and anadventure all rolled into one. And that may not agree with the palates of the connoisseurs but its sure to excite the tastebuds of just about everyone else!
This book reads like a Bollywood caper… with larger than life characters and events. Yet the emotions expressed by the Roberts are real and often touch a chord in us, somewhere… even though at times he can be guilty of excessive verbosity which somewhats affects the readability of the novel. But that does not detract from the impressive scope of the story and the deft handling of even the most minute details. The characterizations, as I’ve already mentioned, are excellent. The background action gives a great flavour of the political and social environment of the time the novel is set in. Perhaps, the most significant part of this novel was a look at Bombay like few have ever attempted before in fiction. In short, a fantastic piece of achievement by Gregory David Roberts… which is made even more significant when you consider the fact that two drafts of this novel were destroyed by prison guards when Roberts was incarcerated in prison.
If you thought that 936 pages was long, hold on to your horses! Roberts plans to bring out a sequel soon. And now that my appetite has been whetted by ‘Shantaram’, I can’t wait for the sequel to hit the stands! But we will have to wait a long time for that.
Now that you’ve read this review, I’d recommend that you try to finda copy of this book and read about the amazing adventures of Linbaba!!