Shantaram

While sitting in a little Goan café with my sister, the owner (a British guy) was telling us about a book that was a great read for anyone that had been to India. From what he was saying, it sounded like the main character was nuts. And, after all, I wasn’t the biggest reader at the best of times, so who knew if I would ever get to it.

Mildly intrigued, I filed the title into some part of my brain only to have it re-emerge last week. I couldn’t remember the name at first, but eventually it came to me. Since I was going to be flying, I needed some entertainment…933 pages worth, to be exact.

To re-iterate what the café owner told me, anyone that has lived in India MUST read this book. If you’ve ever lived in Mumbai, it’s time to go to the bookstore right now and buy a copy. On pretty much every page I was reminded of some pleasant or unpleasant memory of my arrival, stay, and/or departure. The crazy driving, the smells, the slums, the shop vendors, paan, chai, theek hai (okay), challo (let’s go) – all vividly recounted by the author, Gregory David Roberts.

The guy basically starts by robbing banks, goes to prison, escapes over the wall in broad daylight, flies to India under a fake passport, lives in Mumbai, meets a travel guide, goes to visit the guide’s family in the countryside, and then goes to live in the slum as a quasi-doctor. He meets a cast of crazy characters along the way and some insightful lessons are brought to life.

I’m only on page 230, but it’s got me hooked. It’s just too bad I have textbooks to read. Nicholas, you need to pick this book up…you’d love it. I just wish I’d seen Mumbai a lot better than I did.