RUN FOR THE HILLS MELBOURNITES.  INSANE McGAIN IS ON HIS WAY HOME.

In news that will shock just about no-one, Insane McGain's reign of terror, is soon to be over.

The 'Strayan quack has decided that his shoulder knack will not be fixed in time, so will be sent on the next flight home.

If you've got a flight booked from India to Australia in the next day or two, beware because McGain is a loose cannon.

No Australian has scared the Indian public (and the strayan squad) quite so much as McGain, and not since Gregory David Roberts terrorised Mumbai, have they been so happy to see a Strayan go home.

McGain's son maybe the only one who can restore him to Nice Bryce, but according to our Strayan correspondent, Bruce, he's loving the notoriety of having a psyhcotic father.  His young son is now rampaging around his school like Mark "Chopper" Read, and stealing school lunch money to get spin lessons from Terry Jenner.

The plot thickens...

The ACB selection panel are due to arrive in India during the 2nd day of the 1st test, and will surely discuss their spin options.  Currently on tour Crazy Eyes Krezja, has just been spanked like a naughty child at a boarding school, so the ACB will be looking at other options.  Bruce our Strayan correspondent has heard through the grapevine that they'll be looking for a like for like replacement of Insane McGain, so are due to call up either 'Tiger' Bill O'Reilly, or Clarrie Grimmett.

What perplexes the reader is the juggling between genre-caliber action sequences (think Clive Cussler) and passage after passage of existential exposition. The mix would so easily seem incongruous, yet is delivered naturally by Roberts’s hand. I think this is why so many prior reviewers have simply said this book is about “everything.” The conceit is the author’s struggle for redemption. Roberts wrote the novel based on his Indian experiences in prison after being recaptured. The redemptive quality, bordering on heavy-handed, rewards the reader with a fuller, deeper understanding and far more insight into what might otherwise be a very foreign read.

This literary tour of India, for the book is about Bombay as much as everything else, is worth the read alone. It will be exciting to see how accurate Johnny Depp’s silver screen adaptation will be. Particularly how well the movie can adapt the content of what otherwise may be six movies crammed into one.

Ultimately, I recommend Shantaram for its insight alone. No other book has ever gone where Shantaram goes, nor goes and achieves such a complicated understanding. It is perplexing to think that one person could live through so many experiences but encouraging to think that one person could have the courage to do so.--Christopher Patrick Steffen

A real page turner without it actually devolving into super piss-poor bestseller prose. It's not the literary book of the year or anything, but it was a damn good read. (Don't get offended if you like the book -- the author writes well enough, but he's not up there with Chabon, Atwood, nor McCarthy).

The book is by Gregory David Roberts. He is an Australian writer who now permanently resides in Mumbai, India. Shantaram is semi-autobiographical -- although it is a work of fiction.

Gregory Roberts (like his fictional protagonist, Lin), was incarcerated in Australia. He escaped from prison. He fled to India to start a new life (like his fictional protagonist). And you should just read the book . . .

It's going to be made into a movie. Apparently Johnny Depp loved it like I did and convinced a few of his friends to back it. I am not as influential as Johnny.

However, I wanted to talk about the book before the movie came out and of course, inevitably, the movie inspired cover that I will be embarassed to be seen with (a vestige of my English major snob ways -- what are you gonna do?).

Any book that convinces you to travel to another country is something. Mumbai here I come . . .

April 20 - May 20 Taurus
Famed Taurean William Shakespeare once wrote: Summer’s lease hath all too short a date. To paraphrase: it’s August, bitches! Get your stubborn Taurus behind out there into the world and take in some fresh air, even if it is heavy with humidity. You’ll wish you had done so come wintertime when the air is freezing cold and hurts when you breathe. Move it and shake it, yo ~ before the ice age moves in on us and takes permanent residence like on that scary episode of the Twilight Zone.

May 21 - June 20 Gemini
Your dual nature will no doubt thrill to the news that David Byrne and Brian Eno have collaborated again for the first time in 30 years - and that's gotta be cool. Everything That Happens Will Happen Today is released August 18th but you can download a free copy of one of the songs, Strange Overtones, here. A tour will commence on September 16th in Bethlehem, Pa.

June 21 - July 22 Cancer
One of my favorite crab people is Artie Wayne, who is and has been a songwriter, singer, producer, concert promoter, publisher, restaurant host and more during his storied career. He’s also a refreshing stop in the increasingly crowded blogosphere where he shares way cool finds like Simon and Garfunkel performing Sounds of Silence acoustically live on television; The Mighty Quinn by the awesomely underrated Manfred Mann; Society’s Child by shy, sixteen year old Janis Ian; and John, You’ve Gone Too Far This Time by Rainbo (AKA Sissy Spacek prior to her acting career!). AW is apparently working on a book about the music business – sign me up for that one, Amazon!

July 23 - August 22 Leo
Happy Birthday Leo guys and dolls! Yes, Teri, that means YOU! A great way to celebrate your birthday weekend is to crank up the dials to WFMU FM which is celebrating 50 years on the air today through Sunday. And don’t think you can’t listen because you don’t live in the area. Au contraire ma cherie ~ WFMU streams live on the web 24/7! Legendary DJ’s from years past will be dropping in all weekend to help celebrate – including Wildgirl, Vin Scelsa, and Danny Fields! Even the Hound will be back, Saturday August 9 between 3 and 6pm.

August 23 - September 22 Virgo
I know you Virgos are very concerned with not acting old – as are we all. Please to rejoice in HowNotToActOld.com which has loads of tips on how to not give away your age, assuming you’re older than Paris Hilton (who still qualifies as young). Writer Pamela Redmond Satran has written 14 books including 5 novels, and 8 bestselling baby-naming books coauthored with Linda Rosenkrantz. Besides her blog, she also writes for the Huffington Post and has a new book out called 1000 Ways To Be A Slightly Better Woman.

September 23 - October 22 Libra
Librans can satisfy their insatiable need for great documentary films this summer with HBO’s terrific weekly series which started in June with Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired. Even though it has appeared that Showtime has kicked HBO’s ass this year on drama series, I’m here to tell you that these documentaries make for great television. Last week, Baghdad High showed us what it’s like to be a teenager in Iraq where a daily commute to school is fraught with roadside bombings. Quel teenage wasteland! Every Monday night at 9pm through August 25th a new film is shown. Pop some corn and settle down to leave your world for the duration.

October 23 - November 21 Scorpio
It’s about time, Scorpio cats n kittens – your basest selves will thrill to the newly opened Erotic Heritage Museum in (where else?) Las Vegas, Nevada. Over 24,000 square feet of permanent and featured exhibits pay tribute to the world of erotica. The Museum opened its legs, I mean, doors to the world on August 3rd and seeks to bridge the gap between that which is commercial and often misidentified as pornographic. No doubt Jesse Helms will be turning in his grave.

November 22 - December 21 Sagittarius
Sagittarians know from crazy crazy love. Therefore this week’s download is targeted to our self-indulgent, sociable, flirtatious centaur friends. The song is Bernadette by the Four Tops and is a testament to complete and utter jealousy and obsession. This 1967 Motown hit was produced by Holland-Dozier-Holland and recorded at Hitsville USA. The stellar lead vocal is of course by the unbelievable Levi Stubbs. Listen to the raw urgency in his voice as he cries, Bernadette! They want you because of the pride that it gives; But Bernadette, I want you because I need you to live.

December 22 - January 19 Capricorn
In honor of a Capricorn born on January 8, 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi, I’m speaking of course of Elvis Aaron Presley here, I urge you to visit the 24 Hour Church of Elvis. Here in this pocket of madness on the internets you can purchase refrigerator magnets, stickers, pins, t-shirts, calendars, etc. etc. etc. Proprietor Stephanie G. Pierce has run this establishment since 1985 in Portland, Oregon. There used to be a physical store where weddings were performed, but that’s closed for the moment. In the meantime, flat top cats and dungaree dolls can celebrate The King with a refrigerator magnet.

January 20 - February 18 Aquarius
Our Aquarian of the Week is – yes – Paris Hilton. Girlfriend fired back a hysterical response to John McCain’s Britney/Paris/Obama TV ad from last week. Paris lounges in a leopard bikini as she explains her own energy policy to us (surprise, it’s pretty frickin’ awesome). Quoth Ms. Hilton: “That wrinkly white-haired guy used me in his campaign ad, which I guess means I’m running for President. So thanks for the endorsement, white-haired dude. . . I want America to know that I’m like, totally ready to lead.” Even her parents, who contributed $Hilton$ money to McCain, were horrified by his tasteless ad which compares Obama’s celebrity to that of their daughter and Britney Spears.

February 19 - March 20 Pisces
Fish People, here’s a novel you can curl up in for the entire month of August and read your brains out. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts is the largely autobiographical tale of Roberts, who escapes after two years in an Australian prison where he had been jailed for a series of armed robberies performed when he was a heroin addict. He arrives in Bombay with an assumed name and forged papers and luckily meets a street guide who becomes his bridge to an entirely new world. That’s only the beginning; I’m still reading it. The book is so large and heavy it could conceivably be used as a weapon. Fall into this fascinating world like it was a gorgeous colorful silken pillow.

Recently I finished one of the best books I've read in a long time, Shantaram, by Gregory David Roberts.  While long, at nearly 1000 pages, it is truly a worth it.

The book is based on Roberts life following his escape from a maximum security prison in Australia, where he was serving a 19 year sentence.  He soon found himself in Bombay where he lived in a slum, established a free health clinic, joined the Mumbai mafia, worked as a money launderer, forger and street solider.  He also found time to learn Hindi and Marathi, fall in love, act in Bollywood, be imprisoned once again in an Indian jail before going to fight with the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan.  As you can see 1000 pages is barley enough to cover this fictionalized account of his life.

What I liked most about this book was the way he brought Mumbai alive. He really managed to capture the complexity of the City and a nuanced and compassionate look at life in the slums. He shows how a community of 25,000 people in an area the size of a couple of city blocks finds ways to polices itself and survive, how they prepare for the yearly monsoons, fight fires.  I look forward to a screen adaptation as well.  Shantaram is in production and  Johnny Depp will be playing Gregory David Roberts.

For just a small feel of his writing and how he brings Mumbai alive I'll leave you with  this quotation and a video of Roberts describing his first day in Bombay Slum.

The first thing I noticed about Bombay, on that first day, was the smell of the different air. I could smell it before I saw or heard anything of India, even as I walked along the umbilical corridor that connected the plane to the airport. I was excited and delighted by it, in that first Bombay minute, escaped from prison and new to the wide world, but I didn't and couldn't recognize it. I know now that it's the sweet, sweating smell of hope, which is the opposite of hate; and it's the sour, stifled smell of greed, which is the opposite of love. It's the smell of gods, demons, empires, and civilizations in resurrection and decay. It's the blue skin-smell of the sea, no matter where you are in the Island City, and the blood-metal smell of machines. It smells of the stir and sleep and waste of sixty million animals, more than half of them humans and rats. It smells of heartbreak, and the struggle to live, and of the crucial failures and loves that produce our courage. It smells of ten thousand restaurants, five thousand temples, shrines, churches, and mosques, and of a hundred bazaars devoted exclusively to perfumes, spices, incense and freshly cut flowers. Karla once called it the worst good smell in the world, and she was right, of course, in that way she had of being right about things. But whenever I return to Bombay, now it's my first sense of the city - that smell, above all things - that welcomes me and tells me I've come home....

I hope you pick up the book.  It was truly a great read.

Röde Orm av Frans G Bengtsson

En av mina absoluta favvoböcker. Har säkert läst den åtminstone vartannant år sedan jag var tolv. Någon har sagt att den säger mer om hur det var att ligga i Lund under mellankrigstiden än om hur det var att vara viking på Harald Blåtands tid. Men jag tröttnar aldrig på Orm, Toke och de andra. Det är som att träffa kompisar från förr.

Aldrig fucka upp av Jens Lapidus

Uppföljaren till Snabba cash. Underhållande hårdkokt thriller ("Stockholm Noir") som bärs upp av ett rappt språk och en trovärdig dialog. Storyn är sådär med en legoknekt som blir en feminismens Don Quixote som går till storms mot patriarkatets väderkvarnar. Frågan är om det är det eller det faktum att han läst Judith Butler och förstått något som är mest osannolikt? Sen finns det en halvbakad palmemordskonspiration också (är det en trend på uppgående?). Men som sagt klart läsvärd för den hårdkokta prosan.

Filosofiska söndagsklubben av Alexander McCall Smith

Jag är barnsligt förtjust i naiviteten och den konservativa utopismen i McCall Smiths romaner om Damernas detektivbyrå i Botswana. I sin andra romanserie försöker han göra om samma sak i sin egen hemstad Edinburgh. Och ska man vara helt ärlig funkar inte konceptet i en västvärld som läsaren kan identifiera sig med. Utopin behöver vara där borta. Konservatismen och elitismen blir obehaglig i vardagen. Jag föredrar nog att även i fortsättningen dricka mitt te med Mma Ramotswe. Rooibos, såklart.

Sen har jag hunnit börja på Gregory David Roberts Shantaram som handlar om en australiensare på rymmen som hamnar i Bombays slum. Verkar mustigt, mastigt och är tydligen sant. Jag har typ 850 sidor kvar på den så jag återkommer.

Shantaram

Author: Gregory David Roberts

Googy Rating: 2.5 / 5

Gist:

A tattered soul imprisoned in Australia without any real reason escapes the years of imprisonment in the jail and wanders around the world as a wanted fugitive in search of peace, in search of freedom and finds that India is the birthplace of his longings. The author falls in love with the life in Bombay and a resident foreigner like him Karla.

He gets to know the day to day habits of the drug dealings and other black market business. He joins with Bombay don Abdul kader khan who treats him like his son. He understands many aspects of life under the guidance of the great don and becomes trained in many illegal activities. Then he goes along with his mentor to the war front in Afghanistan to know about the true incidents that made him what he is, a member of the greatest mafia gang in Bombay still the most wanted one in the world.

Review:

The book is full of philosophical thoughts which are really interesting but slows down the pace of the story to a great extent. The author’s description of Bombay as a place for any person who can do any kind of job is simply great. The characters are well dealt with. My favorite character in the novel is Prabakar, a great and loyal friend of the author who greets everyone with a big smile. The most impressive nature about Prabakar is that he is very loyal to everyone and makes everyone happy around him with his warm welcome and his love and affection. Author’s visit to Prabakar’s village is an enjoyable part. It’s really difficult for a foreigner to adapt to the customs of the village and live among the villagers for nearly 6 months. The slums in Bombay are well explained and the conditions of the people are expressed in an apt manner. Author learns to believe and care for people during his life in slum. The little medical centre done by the author is really touching. Quasim Ali, the leader of the slum though comes in the novel less has impressed me with the way he handles the things in the slum. The author has made great effort in explaining the procedures of black market trading in Bombay. The novel is very informative in many ways. The chats between kader khan and the author is more of philosophical thoughts where the author writes about the importance of freedom, the way of doing wrong things for right reasons and many more which are really good to read but some may feel it very boring. Karla is described as a very beautiful, brilliant and a very mysterious girl who has been regretting her child hood. But I don’t think her child hood is so bad. I did not like her character very much. According to me she has betrayed herself with the wrong and lame reasons. The author’s travel to Afghanistan during the war is really boring and very long. The author’s experience in the jail of Arthur Road is really hard to read with those tortures and beatings. The author dislikes the thought that he had lost his freedom again for unmentioned reasons and waits for his revenge. The concept of ‘sapna’ killings was really nice. It had good motive in the start which went out of control. The words of the author as such ‘” You can change your life completely with a single thought or single act of love”. I think these lines contains lot more meaning that it really specifies.

Bottom line: Just philosophical.

With love

Googy.

The first book to add to the list is the much acclaimed bestseller Shantaram by Gregory David Robers which I have been trying to read from the last few months. Fortunately spotted the book with one of my senior colleagues who readily agreed to lend the book to me. The next book to join the list is Einsten: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson which my dear friend Ram thought would be an ideal birthday gift (thank you Ram).

A much needed and appreciated decision by my employer ensured that we (Akhil and I) missed the books and of course the superb coffee at Brio in Crossword. Finally we found the time this Saturday to pay a visit to our favourite place and we did cover up for not visiting the bookstore in the month of May.

Akhil went on an overdrive this time picking up more than six books. And as part of the relief efforts from my side I took on the responsibility of reading two books: Everybody loves a good drought by P Sainath and Accidents like love & marriage by Jaishree Misra. And here is the growing list of books that I need to finish reading at the earliest.

• Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann
• Unrational Leadership by Charles Fleetham
• The Fifth Discipline by Peter M Senge
• Inevitable Ilusions by Piatelli Palmarini
  
• Being Indian by Pavan K Varma
• The Dogs of Justice by Nina Sibal
• Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
• Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson
• Everybody loves a good drought by P Sainath
• Accidents like love & marriage by Jaishree Misra

I was first introduced to this novel (epic is probably the more appropriate term) while on holiday with a rather free spirited friend.

“I’m reading Shantaram,” she said one day while we were basking in the holiday sun. My brain did not quite register this foreign sounding word.

“It’s amazing. It’s about this man who was one of Australia’s most wanted men because he escaped maximum security prison by the front wall.”

Huh? I get up on my elbows and look at her.

“Yeah. And through the work of God, he escaped to India and found salvation.”

Ah.

My cynicism sank back into the sand and washed the novel from my mind as she continued to wax lyrical about this book apparent.

In fact, this Shantaram was not thought of again until I got back to the real world, the one that had shops and multinational bookstores aplenty. On walking into one of these said bookstores, I encountered one of those ‘customer voted top ten’ shelves.

Now, Dear Reader, I understand that this is not exactly the tried and true method of excellent reading, but surely you must understand that strange human behaviour that celebrates something simply because it was celebrated by someone else.

Frankly, I had no great hopes for this novel. But that should never stop a girl from shelling out x amount of dosh to take a brick home with her. I was expecting a whole lot of airy-fairy crap that quite usually happens with memoirs that follow the adventures of a white man into the exotic beyond. What I was presented with was depth and a story that was riveting.

Oh man, was I surprised.

And true to word, Gregory David Roberts/Shantaram/Lin did escape over the front wall of a prison. He certainly did find God in India. But he then proceeded to reject it whole-heartedly by convincing himself that worshiping at the altar of atheism and the Afghan mafia was a much worthier cause.

And it is for this very reason that I decided that I was going to like this man. You see, while I will almost always agree that there is nothing better in this world than blasphemy, I feel that Gregory David Roberts takes it up a notch by adding some reverence and a touch of love.

He is a confused man, doing bad things, in a bad place (I am not saying that India is a bad place… just the company that our dear author was keeping). He comes to India. He does not become token white man making the pilgrimage from his secular world to one of intense spirituality. He just becomes a man who comes to embrace the dirt.

To put it quite simply, you don’t jump a stupidly high, barbed concrete fence to go and eat slum dirt unless you are a kick ass guy. It also helps that this kick ass guy is also a kick ass writer - there is nothing as excellent as reading an outlandish memoir without having to trawl through bad grammar.

So Gregory David Roberts. Kudos to you.

Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse 5

"American planes, full of holes and wounded men and corpses took off backwards from an airfield in England. Over France, a few German fighter planes flew at them backwards, sucked bullets and shell fragments from some of the planes and crewmen. They did the same for wrecked American bombers on the ground, and those planes flew up backwards to join the formation.

The formation flew backwards over a German city that was in flames. The bombers opened their bomb bay doors, exerted a miraculous magnetism which shrunk the fires, gathered them into cylindrical steel, containers, and lifted the containers into the bellies of the planes. The containers were stored neatly in racks. The Germans below had miraculous devices of their own, which were long steel tubes. They used them to suck fragments from the crewmen and planes. But there were still a few wounded Americans, though, and some of the bombers were in bad repair. Over France, though, german fighters came up again, made everything and everybody as good as new.

When the bombers got back to their base, the steel cylinders were taken from the racks and shipped back to the United States of America, where factories were operating night and day, dismantling the cylinders, separating the dangerous contents into minerals. Touchingly, it was mainly women who did this work. The minerals were then shipped to specialists in remote areas. It was their business to put them into the ground, to hide them cleverly, so they would never hurt anybody ever again."

 Gregory David Roberts - Shantaram

"Men wage wars for profit and principal, but they fight them for land and women. Sooner or later, the other causes and compelling reasons drown in blood and lose their meaning. Sooner or later, death  and survival clog the senses. Sooner or later, surviving is the only logic, and dying is the only voice and vision.  Then, when best friends die screaming, and good men maddened with pain and fury lose their minds in the bloody pit, when all the fairness and justice and beauty in the world is blown away with  arms and legs and heads of brothers and sons and fathers, then, what makes men fight on, and die, and keep on dying, year after year, is the will to protect the land and the women.

You know that's true when you listen to them, in the hours before they go into battle. They talk about home, and they talk about the women they love. And you know it's true when you watch them die. If he's near the earth or on the earth in the last moments, a dying man reaches out for it, to squeeze a grasp of soil in his hand. If he can, he'll raise his head to look at the mountain, the valley, or the plain. If he's a long way from home, he'll think about it, and he'll talk about it. He'll talk about his village, or his home town, or the city where he grew up. The land matters, at the end. And at the very last, he won't scream of causes. At the very last, he'll murmur or he'll cry out the name of a sister or a daughter or a lover or a mother, even as he speaks the name of his god. The end mirrors the beginning. In the end, its a woman, and a city.

Joseph Heller - Catch 22

"There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, that specified that a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane, he had to fly them. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of the clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.

"That's some catch, that Catch-22," he observed.

"It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka replied."

1. SHANTARAM : As you must be knowing , it is an autobiographical fictional book by Gregory D. Roberts. He is a former australian convict who escaped imprisonment and came to Bombay. There he stayed for about 10 years while living in slums, village and working for the underworld there. He also got involved in smuggling and a war in Afghanistan. He also went to prison for a while in between, forged passports and dealt in drugs. And finally, he was caught again and sent to a jail in australia. This man has been a writer in the life before the heroin addiction and armed robberies came to him. Now, he is a writer again and what a fine one at that. For a person living in circumstances far removed from being conducive for the growth of a writer, he has managed pretty well to chronicle his life and experiences in a splendid way. He has lived 10 lives in one. He has been countless persons while being one person. One is awed by the sheer incredulity of situations that he faced. One is tickled by the weird and funny incidents that came his way. One is horrified by the circumstances he has lived in and in which other people continue to live today also. One is terrified by the people who surrounded him . But what is most important is that one feels hope, one gets strength and one gets the conviction that it is possible to straighten things out in the end. The message that seeps in is that whatever be the odds, end can be bettered.

The book is fantastically descriptive. You have no problem in imagining the characters and the situations. The book is thick too and yet when you finish it, you yearn for more. It is a thriller which keeps you at the edge of you seat. You are bound to say: Really? He did that! He lived like that! He is still alive. ..etc etc . The book is a must read for people who find adventures interesting. There is a lot of philosophy too. You are at times hearing the conversations about big bang, complexity, universe, existence and that too between whom you wonder..between two chiefs of the underworld. They talk about good and evil at one minute and go murder a person or forge a passport the next moment. Its sometimes hilarious and sometimes gut wrenching. Sometimes it feels like a deep philosophical message and at other times like a farce, a hypocrisy. But whatever, it is a truly engaging book. one should read it just to know that what are the possibilities in the world that exist.

2. BOOKLESS IN BAGHDAD : This is a book by Shashi Tharoor who is the Under Secretary General of the UN and was in the race of becoming the Secretary General. He is a well educated man, in truest sense representing the global elites of India. As he himself says, he was hooked to books since very small age. No wonder, he has read all sorts of works by almost all kind of authors. He himself has published around 9 books. That much for the man.

As for the book, it is mainly a collection of his essays on literary topics ranging from authors to reviewers to his favorite books to the poets he loves. Interesting and insightful. Not a very interesting read for all I would say. Only those who like Tharoor and are well read would find something of interest here. There is a lot of mention about Salman Rushdie. Now, he is a truly intriguing and interesting topic altogether to deserve a separate post which he shall get but later.

Till then you can get the info about these two books at wiki :

1 . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shantaram_(novel)

2. http://www.shashitharoor.com/books/bookless/bookless-reviews.htm

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts is destined to appear on the big screen. Currently in pre-production and delayed by the WGA strike, it is targeted for a 2009 release. Projects in pre-production do sometimes get cancelled, so who knows what the eventual fate of this picture will be. The particularly interesting bit about this particular production can be found on its page on the IMDB. Two actors have already been attached to the project. They are Johnny Depp (from Pirates of the Caribbean, among others) and Amitabh Bachchan, who is one of the kings of Bollywood. What an interesting combination! Now I want this film to be made, purely to see the interaction between these two.

As more information becomes available, I will let you know.

"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. I realised, somehow, through the screaming in my mind that even in that shackled bloody helplessness, I was still free. Free to hate the men who were torturing me, or to forgive them. It doesn’t sound like much I know, but in the flinch and bite of the chain, when it’s all you’ve got, that freedom is a universe of possibility and the choice you make between hating and forgiving can become the story of your life."
- Shantaram, Gregory David Roberts

Shantaram..., originally uploaded by Colors of My Dreams.

‘This social work seems to suit you,’ Didier commented through an arch smile. ‘You look so well and fit – underneath the bruises and scratches, that is. I think you must be a very bad man, in your heart of hearts, Lin. Only a wicked man would derive such benefit from good works. A good man, on the other hand, would simply be worn out and bad tempered.’

These are my favourite lines from the cult classic ‘Shantaram’ by Gregory David Roberts. I shared an incredible fellowship with ‘Shantaram’ in the last one month. The book went with me wherever I went. I read a few pages every night, soaking in the adventures of Lin, before drifting off to sleep.

The characters of Abdul Khader Khan, Abdullah Taheri, Prabaker, Karla, Nazeer, Lisa, the Zodiac Georges and Standing Babas and the locales of Sunder Village, Leopold’s, Kandahar, Arthur Road Prison, Haji Ali Mosque, and the city of Mumbai seemed so real, so alive that I almost felt that I was not reading a book, but actually living in the story as an observer.

Shantaram (official website) is an ‘autobiographical novel?” where there is no clear delineation between fact and fiction. It is based on the extraordinary real life experiences of Gregory David Roberts, an Australian foreign armed robber and fugitive who spent eight years in the Bombay underworld. The book is a tremendous test of his willpower as Roberts had to write it 3 times, after prison guards trashed the first two versions.

If you are an Indophile, with a particular affinity for Mumbai (Bombay), the quintessential Indian city of dreams and home to Bollywood, towering skyscrapers, sprawling chawls, vada pav and teeming millions on the move, you will enjoy reading Shantaram.

Shantaram is soon to be made into a movie, directed by Mira Nair and starring Johnny Depp and Amitabh Bachchan. Shantaram rocks for its adventures, amazing story telling, vivid descriptions and moral purpose.

But then again, back to my main purpose of writing this post, which is a reflection on the first paragraph. Is it true that wicked people can derive benefits from good deeds? What leads them to this experience? Is it redemption for the soul? Or the inner peace that you gain when you make a conscious effort of doing something good?

Here are a couple of interesting posts on Shantaram from the blogosphere. Enjoy!
Archana: Shantaram... By Gregory David Roberts
Ashok Karania: Shantaram
El: Shantaram & the idea of a noisy novel
Neeta Shenoy: Living with 'Shantaram'
Narasimha Shastri: Shantaram - Book Review

शांताराम मुम्बई में बाहर से आने वाले सैलानियों से शुरू होती हुई आपको कई जगह ले जाती है..मसलन मुम्बई की झोपडपट्टी, महाराष्ट्र के एक छोटे से गांव, मुम्बई की आर्थर रोड जेल,गोवा , मुम्बई का माफिया तंत्र....और फिर वाया पाकिस्तान होती हुई अफगानिस्तान। अफगानिस्तान से हम वापस मुम्बई आते हैं, और यहाँ कहानी की परिणीति होती है।

मुख्य पात्र लिन आस्ट्रेलिया से भागा हुआ एक अपराधी है जो अपनी भगौडी जिन्दगी के एक पडाव के दौरान मुम्बई पहुँचता है, और यहाँ उसे कई दिलचस्प लोग, और अच्छे दोस्त मिलते हैं। जैसा कि मुम्बई पर लिखी हर किताब या हर फिल्म कहती है, कि ये शहर अपको अपनी और खींचता है, लिन के साथ भी ऐसा ही कुछ होता है। कुछ दिन एक होटल में रहने के बाद, वो एक स्लम में रहने लगता है और वहां एक क्लिनिक चलाता है (कहानी का यह हिस्सा डोमिनिक लेपायर (Dominique Lappire) की सिटी आफ जाय (City of Joy) से काफी मेल खाता है)। उसे प्रभाकर मिलता है, जिसकी सच्चाई और निश्छलता उसे लिन का सबसे अच्छा मित्र बना देती है, उसे कार्ला मिलती है जिससे वो मुहब्बत करने लगता है पर जिसके जादूई व्यक्तित्त्व को वो अंत तक नही समझ पाता । उसका परिचय मुम्बई के माफिया डान अब्दुल कादर खान से होता है जिसमें वो अपने पिता को देखता है और उसके लिये काम करने लगता है। इसी बीच कुछ स्थानीय लोगों से दुश्मनी के चलते उसे काफी समय मुम्बई की आर्थर रोड जेल में बिताना पडता है। इससे आगे कहानी अफगानिस्तान पहुँचती है जहाँ वो अब्दुल कादर खान, जो कि एक अफगान है, के साथ दुश्मनों से लडने जाता है। कहानी का केनवास बहुत वृहद है, और हो सकता है कहीं कहीं आपको ये बेवजह फैलती सी लगे।

किताब का मुख्य आकर्षण जो शुरू से आखिर तक बांधे रखता है, वो है मानवीय रिश्तों का तानाबाना जो लेखक ने इतनी खूबसूरती से बुना है, कि कई जगहों पर आप पात्रों को अपने सामने खडा पाते हैं। मैने पहुत कम फिक्शन ऐसे पढे हैं जिनमें चरित्र चित्रण इतना सालिड हो, जिसके पात्र इतना प्रभावित करते हों और जिसके संवाद दिल को ऐसे छू लें कि आप उन्हे अलग से लिख कर रखें। मेरी राय: एक जरूर पढा जाने लायक उपन्यास। कुछेक बेहतरीन सवादों की नजीरें पेश हैं :

A lot of the bad stuff in the world wasn't really that bad, until someone tried to change it. (p. 97)

Sometime you have to surrender before you win. (p. 115)

When the wish and the fear are exactly the same, we call the dream a nightmare. (p 151)

The worst thing about corruption as a system of governance is that it works well (p 186)

The justice is not only the way we punish those who do wrong. It is also the way we try to save them (p 229)

Poverty and pride are devoted blood brothers until one, always and inevitably, kills the other (230)

People always hurt us with their trust.... The surest way to hurt someone you like, is to put all your trust in him (306)

Mistakes are like bad loves. The more you learn from them, the more you wish they had never happened.

पुस्तक के आवरण के अनुसार, शांताराम, लेखक ग्रेगरी डेविड राबर्ट्स के जीवन की हकीकत पर आधारित है (यानि सच्ची कहानी है)। यह पुस्तक लेखक ने तीन बार जेल में लिखी, (दो बार जेल गार्ड्स के हाथ पड जाने के पर नष्ट कर दी गई।..विकिपीडिया पर किताब की लिंक भी यही कहती है। अगर यह सच है, तो वाकई लेखक की अदम्य इच्छाशक्ति का परिचय है। लेकिन जो बात मुझे खटकती है वो ये कि अगर किताब की सारी बातें सच हैं तो लेख को अभी जेल में ही होना चहिये लेकिन उनकी आफिशियल वेबसाइट के अनुसार तो वो अच्छे से घूमफिर रहे हैं। क्या कोई इस बारे में बता सकता है कि ये कहानी वाकई उनकी जिन्दगी पर आधारित है, अथवा कल्पना ही है?

चलते चलते:

दो महीने से ऊपर हो गया शांताराम पढें...तुरंत लिखना चाहा था, लेकिन परिस्थितियां कुछ ऐसी बनी कि नही लिख पाया। जैसा कि ऊपर लिखा, इतना बडा केनवास है किताब का, कि मुझे पक्का पता था कि अगर टाल दिया तो बाद में लिखना मुश्किल होगा। और वाकई, तरीके से लिखना बहुत मुश्किल हो रहा है..इसलिये जो कुछ कच्चा पक्का बन पाया है, हाजिर है।

After IT, these are the most notable ones hitting international headlines of late. A decade ago, India was internationally known for only beauty queens who served little purpose. Today, a majority of scientists at NASA are Indians. Ditto with the intellectual capital in Dubai and other Middle eastern countries.

However, what enthralls me most is how India is helping non-Indians make their millions. Take Gregory David Roberts, the writer of Shantaram, a film that's soon going to hit the production floors in Hollywood. It's a real-life story of Roberts himself. Life changed for this armed robber and heroin addict when he escaped from an Australian prison and took refuge in a Mumbai slum. Roberts soon establishes a free health clinic and joins the Mumbai mafia as a money launderer, forger and a street soldier. More than the story, it's the sights and sounds of India that give the book a gritty authentic flavour. Roberts wrote Shantaram three times after prison guards trashed the first two versions. Roberts was captured in Germany in 1990 and eventually extradited to Australia. One completing his prison term, he set up a small multimedia company and is now a full-time writer living in Melbourne. That's the story of an armed robber who becomes a well-known writer, courtesy India.

Yann Martel is yet another writer who made profound use of India to launch himself into the international market. His book Life of Pi won him the Man Booker Prize 2002. Though born in Spain, he grew up in Costa Rica, France, Mexico, Alaska and Canada. But as an adult, he spent time in Iran, Turkey and India. It's the last destination that germinated this book. More than anything, it's the Panchatantra-like quality of the book that captivates you. It's this essence that Martel imbibes from his visit to India and makes maximum use of it to weave a tale filled with 'astonishment, delight and gratitude.'

Which brings me to Indian diplomat Vikas Swarup. After serving in Turkey, the US, Ethiopia and the UK, when he sits down to write a story, it's set in India. His book Q&A is a straight take on Kaun Banega Crorepati bordering on how a show like that can also be rigged. But what is again the highlight is neither the show nor the rigging but the rich and diverse culture that we live in. And that is what engages the reader and takes you on a roller-coaster ride: from the mafia underworld to glue-sniffers, arrogant whites, oppressive servants and families who prostitute a daughter… essentially all the ingredients of a Bollywood potboiler. No wonder this book is being made into a film and a stage musical. What's more, for wider access, the book is being translated into twenty-five languages.

My friends in the publishing industry tell me that India is shining so bright that any book on India is being lapped up, merit be damned. So when are you writing your first book, dear reader? Make the most of now.

Such is the power of this wonderful autobiography!

Like most things that are near perfection, there are a few eerie shades to this book. The gory, detailed descriptions of bloodshed, the author's constant tussle with his conscience and lastly, the reader's; in this case, my own guilt of enjoying a former drug addict and armed robber's story.

Nevertheless, Shantaram is a jewel of a book and definite requirement for your book collection.

Visit his not-so-updated website for more honest confessions from Roberts. Trust me, you will find something to write home about. :)