SHANTARAM
Have you ever read a book whose plot, characters and setting took you to another dimension?, whose intricate layout forced you to impersonate the characters, not only the protagonist but all the sidekicks too, live their lives, analyze each situation thinking that you are them?
Shantaram is such a book
Normally if I like a book enough to talk about it(rather, write about it!) I don't take much time; I collect my thoughts and pen them down, like I have done for some of the books I have reviewed(Let's not get cocky here!! , 'wrote about' is a better and more modest term) in my blog. But Shantaram is different. Initially I was so awestruck by the book that for two to three days I could not get it out of my mind, let alone collect my thoughts to review it. I was blank, didn't know what to write which normally doesn't happen. But this is anything but normal! Normality is overthrown as the Nazis were overthrown. The difference being, the latter overthrown by the teeth shattering cold of the Soviet Union and the formal by abnormality, peculiarity and eccentricity. (all are synonyms I just wanted to give a poetic touch to this mundane text!!). I am using the word 'abnormal' and its synonyms in the most humble way I can, in a positive way, out of immense respect for this book.
Fuck! my habit to deviate from the topic is irritating me, too!!
Oh! I was talking about 'SHANTARAM', a novel , a traveler's guide, a life changing mythological text; you can interpret it in any way you want, but it will never loose its central touch, its originality, its uniqueness and above all its morality.
Its a 944 page long masterpiece. Whoa!! that long. But I can guarantee you not for a single moment you will regret reading this.(I got a little bit carried away with the 'guarantee' thing!).
Coming back to the book, the story is about 'Lin' a convicted felon who has escaped from a maximum security prison in Australia and has landed in Bombay , India after spending some time in New Zealand(All those episodes of 'Prison Break' will come gushing in when Lin describes how he managed to escape!). Bombay reshapes him, redefines him and changes him forever. From a criminal he becomes a doctor of sorts helping all those poor souls living in slums. The book describes Lin's journey in a mesmerizing way, from slums to Arthur road prison to Afghanistan; it gets hold of the reader like a spirit. I am making the ultimate analogy of comparing a reader reading Shantaram to Arjuna in Mahabharata while he was enlightened by Lord Krishna during his teachings of the Bhagwadgita to him. Shantaram has enlightened me as a reader.
I haven't mentioned the author till now! How naive of me?
Thank goodness these articles I write are not read by some blood thirsty critic, otherwise my blog would have become critically acclaimed for sucking!!!
Gregory David Roberts wrote shantaram taking experiences from his real life. The things happening to Lin in the book are the things experienced by Roberts himself. Think about the level of intimacy the author would have shared with the book while writing it. There have been many good authors who wrote about slums, the way people live there, their daily account, but none of them actually lived there, unlike Roberts. This alone gives us enough reason to try his book for at least once.
Haven't you read enough? Don't you want to get over the bad trip of reading this article? Then stand up go on Flipkart and order Shantaram today(or you can hold on to your thirst till Sunday and buy a second hand version of the book at Daryaganj Book Market at super cheap rates).
PLEASE READ SHANTARAM!!!!!!
#Respect
Gregory David Roberts
#InLoveWith
Shantaram
