free rommy New York → Kansas City → San Francisco → Stockholm → Berlin

Shantaram (Gregory David Roberts, 2003)

It's rare that I come across a modern true story that I'm blown away by. Often times I find them to be sensationalized and drawn out, often times reeking more of fiction than of fact.

Shantaram exceeded any and all expectations I might have had about these kinds of novels.

This book was the product of a determined man. Gregory David Roberts was in prison when he wrote it and watched as his first two drafts, amounting to 600 pages and six years worth of work, got destroyed by prison officials. Many pages of the original handwritten manuscript are stained with blood, the result of residual physical damage stemming frostbite he'd suffered while fighting in Afghanistan. It's obvious throughout the book that it was written as a testament to the struggle he endured and that its completion meant the closure of a very painful yet enlightening period of his life.

The book is 900+ pages and I read it in just two weeks. It's undoubtedly one of the most powerful books I've ever read and is a breathtaking account of one man struggling to come to terms with himself - his past and his personal quest for freedom.

Shantaram was recommended to me by a number of friends, mostly as a great book to read before I head off on my journey through India in a few weeks. I fully expected to carry it there with me, since a nearly 1000 page book did not seem like a realistic endeavor in just a month. I'd known nothing about the book, and nothing could've prepared me for the adventure I would embark on as I read the story of a convict who escaped from prison and found himself in India.

The story starts off with Roberts landing in Bombay just a short time after he'd escaped a maximum security prison in Australia where he was serving a 20 year sentence for armed robbery. Though seemingly cliché, it's not the story of an uneducated man who had nothing to lose by robbing at gunpoint, but rather a story of a highly-educated individual who'd lost everything he'd known and loved and further descended into a world of drugs and desperation before being arrested.

But that's not what the book is about. As Roberts lands in Bombay, we experience what we can call his rebirth. Landing with nothing more than his false passport and enough money to last him some time in India, he almost immediately befriends a small Indian man who would be his guide in Bombay. Prabaker would teach him the simplicity of being a good man and would show him the heart and love that would help to begin his ascent from the bottom.

From here we watch as Roberts immerses himself in the spirituality of Indian culture and customs, learns Hindi and Marathi, is forced to live in the Bombay slums after he loses everything he has, rises from the ashes to create a makeshift health clinic in those slums, befriends Indian mafia dons who take him in as a son, fights among his brothers in Afghanistan, receives the unrequited love of the Indian people, and wholeheartedly gives it in return. In that love he redeems himself a million times over and finds his own path to enlightenment.

Shantaram is a book magnificent in its scale, achieving a level of spirituality through amazing prose and powerful introspection. It never once feels pretentious or disingenuous, but rather feels so painfully and emotionally real that you empathize with his struggle as a reemerging spirit and as a flesh-and-blood human being. His writing is beautiful and the simplicity of his views and the views of others on life and death, joy and pain, enlightenment and struggle are so eloquently portrayed, you never want to put the book down.

Needless to say, its helped me to further anticipate my trip to India, not only as an adventure, but as a very personal, spiritual journey where perhaps I can learn just a little bit more about myself. Furthermore, the way he describes India in all its beauty, its energy, and the love-filled livelihood of its one billion plus inhabitants is enough to get me all anxious and ready to go.

I urge you to read this book. I can promise you, even as the cynic that I can often be, that you will not be disappointed.

PS - Once you're finished (or if you need further convincing) check out the videos of his talks on YouTube. Truly fascinating.