Shantaram contd...

There are two ways to live. One either follows all the norms and does the right thing or one can fight and live life the way one wants to. Majority do the former. Exceptional few fall in the latter category. Gregory David Roberts is an exception. He has penned down a part of his life in a book which goes by the name Shantaram. I finished the book a week ago.

When he landed in Mumbai, he was a wanted criminal on run. The book describes his 8 years of life in Mumbai. In the first year here he lived in a village for 6 months and was given the name Shataram by the mother of his tourist guide, Prabhakar, who later on became one of his closest friends. He is not known by this name in the city. Yet Roberts decided to call his book Shantaram. Probably because it’s more Indian than Lin, the name by which he is actually known. Incidentally he is names Lin by Prabhakar.

Initially, he lived in slums, made his living by commission in the drug and black money market. Then he joined Bombay mafia, fought in Afghanistan, spent some time in Indian jail and also fell in love with a German.

The book is very huge but fast moving. In all it’s is an interesting book. If you love reading, go for it.

Shantaram

Shantaram is the book that is keeping me busy right now. It’s the auto biography of Gregory David Roberts. I heard many friends of mine discuss the book & praise it. I wrote it on the back of my mind that I have to read it. When I saw the book at my uncle’s place in Chennai, I borrowed it. The book is 936 pages long. I started to read it to just see how it begins.

The first page hooked me to the book and finished few chapters at a stretch. I read it whenever I could in the bus, in the office, and at home. I have finished 1/3rd of the book and I liked it so far. Usually books with very detailed description bore me, but this is very different probably because it is real. The descriptions of early Bombay, the slums, etc are engrossing. I hope to finish this book soon & post a review here.