Shantaram: A Novel by Gregory David Roberts

"It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured."

If you are like me, the first line will have you hooked, in awe of the profoundly simple, yet mature view on life. It is fair to say this novel is one of a kind. It is the author's incredulous life that hits you the strongest, first, as you read about the author on the blurb and even after you are done with the book. Surely, Frederick Forsyth or Jeffrey Archer could have written a much better novel of this kind, an adventure across continents, with the gripping undercurrents of crime,power, politics and philosophy, for good measure. But where this book stands out is that, this is the closest to a first-hand real-life account that we will probably ever get to read.

In parts, the novel is absorbing, outrageous, ordinary and incredible. As a testament to a man's inner strength and the indomitable spirit of mankind, at large, Shantaram, is truly an epic. And it is precisely these attributes that makes the protagonist, Lindsay or Lin, as his friends affectionately call him, eminently heroic and likeable.

Lin, arrives in Mumbai, India just as a stop-over on his flight to Europe from New Zealand, after he escapes over the front wall of a maximum security prison in Melbourne, where he is sentenced to serve nineteen years for a spate of armed robberies. As he ventures out into the city of Mumbai, he is exposed to the pathetic living conditions of the poor and homeless millions in Mumbai in stark contrast to the much more affluent lives of the wealthy in the neighbourhood. Overcome with a flood of emotions, ranging from sympathy to anger to disgust at himself, he sees the poor leading their not-so-fortunate lives joyfully, and in their lives he sees hope and warmth and most importantly, freedom. As a man on the run, he realizes, he needs the freedom and the refuge that Mumbai could provide, and decides to stay back a little while longer. And soon after, as he meets a range of vibrant friends, including Prabaker, his tourist guide, he embarks on a soul-searching spree that lasts the best part of ten years.

The portrayal of Bombay, that bustling animal of a metropolitan, is subtle, so much so that it leaves one feeling unfulfilled. Yet, in Roberts' defense, it is true that it is impossible to do justice to the myriad hues of Bombay, just as it would be in the case of New York. Beginning as a middleman in drug peddling, he starts making money, and picks up the vernacular just enough to keep himself out of trouble. Lin's love interest - although it stays one-sided - is a certain green-eyed German dame called Karla, whose easy blending in to the Bombay way of life leaves him charmed. However, it is Prabaker, whose honesty, friendship and child-like selflessness that make the most personal impact on Lin, so much he joins Prabhaker on a visit to his native village, Sunder, where in addition to earning the friendship and admiration of total strangers, he also earns his very own Indian name from Prabaker's loving mother, who calls him Shantaram.

Back in the city, Lin starts living in a small hut in Dharavi, the largest slum in Bombay where he provides medical care to the slum dwellers, using first-aid skills and not much else. This brings him in touch with Abdul Khader Khan,an Afghan, who heads one of Bombay's many underworld gangs, and whose majesty, poise and love of metaphysics leave a deep impression on Lin. In time, he also gains the friendship of Abdullah, a trusted lieutenant of Khader Khan and soon finds himself sucked deep into the slimy world of counterfeit, smuggling, violence and politics, before he is suddenly caught by the police and imprisoned for a few months. A whole mix of characters ranging from Madame Zhou, a narcissitic lady who runs a prostitution ring, to Didier, a wine-sipping crazy Frenchman to Vikram, a wannabe Indian with cowboy dreams, lends the story several interesting, but perhaps some needless, interconnections. As fate strikes cruel blows in Lin's new world of friends, he returns to his old drug addictions briefly before taking up a direct and active role in Khader Khan's many illegal operations.

From the underworld of Bombay, Lin's destiny takes him to the war-torn nation of Afghanistan, as part of Khader Khan's entourage to support the Afghan war against the Russians by smuggling in much needed arms. The journey into Pakistan, and from there into the battle-scarred cold winters of Afghanistan, in the midst of their bloodiest war, provides a ringside view of the complex strategic and political forces in play in the region at the time: the Afghan warlords and their tribal factions, the surreptitious activities of Pakistan and American intelligence and military, and the continued Russian offensive. In the end, the war takes its toll, and after several months, only a handful, including Lin, survive and return to India but not before Khader Khan gives Lin the answers to many important questions. The novel returns to the crime world of Bombay revolving around the power struggle in the factions, but ultimately, what Lin makes of the unraveling jigsaw puzzle of relationships forms the denouement of the story.

Where the novel ties up most of the loose ends with reasonably satisfactory explanations, there are a few spots where the dots seemed to have been joined in a hurry, or not at all. For instance, what of the overly mysterious relationship between Karla and Madame Zhou? Nevertheless, given that a fair chunk of the story was based on, or at least inspired by, real-life events, and that most of the book was written while he served out his prison term, the aura around the author more than makes up for the inadequacies of the novel. Where the fiction in places could leave you asking for more, as a story it is utterly fascinating, and an excellent debut. It is a tale of a man who has seen life take him to the extreme edges of pain, crime, suffering and disillusionment on the one hand, and love, fortitude, adventure and freedom on the other. There is a certain victory in Lin's life, as perhaps in Robert's life itself, and it is a victory of the human spirits of trust, love and hope over blazes of hate, anger and frustration . And without doubt, this book is certainly a more-than-worthy celebration of the spirit of that victory.

It is easy to understand why Johnny Depp will star as Lin in the Hollywood movie to be released in mid-2008. Mira Nair, whose Namesake, also was a movie made from a best-selling novel by the same name, will direct this movie, which will also star Indian movie icon Amitabh Bachchan, as Abdul Khader Khan. The movie will more than likely do well, but regardless, this book will be a good one to lay your hands on.