Book Review: Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

When I saw Shantaram on the bookshelves of a leisure store a few years back when it was launched, I did pickup the book and read the synopsis. It said.. "The story of a fugitive from Australia who sneaks into Mumbai and ends up in the slum and joins the mafia and goes on to fight with the Mujahideen in Afghanistan  against the Russians. "
I dismissed it as a yet another attempt to write a cliched book on India and its miseries. I never thought about the book again though the unusual name for the 900 + pages tome stuck in my mind. Fast forward 2011. When I chanced upon the book again. This time I did not read the synopsis. I already knew it. How strange! I opened and read the first page.
"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 realized, 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.

In my case, it's a long story, and a crowded one. I was a revolutionary who lost his ideals in heroin, a philosopher who lost his integrity in crime, and a poet who lost his soul in a maximum-security prison. "

What a start! I was intrigued and I picked up the book. It took me a well interrupted 3 weeks to finish it and am not proud of it. But I must say this. The three weeks were perhaps one of the best three weeks of reading in my entire reading life. This book will go right up there as one of my top 10 favourites.

So what makes the book click? To start with there is the simple and yet astoundingly lovely prose. Personally I for one never give much thought to prose in books as long as they read nice. This book simply floored me with the simplicity of the lovely prose.

Then there are metaphors. We can perhaps compile a book of metaphors from Shantaram. That is the strength and the weakness of the book. GDR uses the to a great effect. 

"Kavita hugged me. It was the hug of a woman who trusts you completely. The hug of a woman who knows your heart belongs to another woman". 

The way GDR describes every aspect of every scene to its minute details in his powerful and simple prose literally transports the reader to the middle of the scene and inside the body of Linbaba a.k.a Lindsay a.k.a Shantaram a.k.a anonymous. The lead characters original name is never revealed through the book. Since the book has been written from a first hand perspective, one is led to believe that this is an autobiography of the author, which he claims it is not and has however said that it uses many incidents from his life.

So, what is the story? the all important plot that is the lifeline of any work of fiction. I must say that there isn't one. Before you jump out of your seat. Let me add, that there isn't one story. There are many. The book begins with the arrival of Lindsay who is later rechristened as Linbaba by Prabhakar. Lin is intrigued at first by the happiness he sees in the many shanties in Mumbai. He begins touring Mumbai with the help of Prabhakar and is slowly swept into the cosmopolitan circle of Leopolds where he meets many expats who have settled down in Mumbai. Each one has a story of their own that they do not wish to share. Lin understands. Losing his money and other possessions in a theft, Lin is left with no choice but to shift to the slum Zhopadpatti. He is soon enamoured by the camaraderie and kinship of the entire society which leads a poor but principled life. Living peacefully in the slums, Lin soon meets with Kadher Khan, the good bad guy of Mumbai! and so the story goes, money, mafia wars, crime syndicates inter-vine with the personal ups and downs of lin . 

By now, the reader has barely touched 300 pages. The story is more of what Lin sees , does and experiences in his life in the sprawling city of Mumbai, his life as a criminal, his life as a Mujahideen, his life as a fugitive. 

The book is full of several interesting takes on religion, science, war and crime. Finally what makes this book an epic is its positive outlook on even the corrupt and negative aspects of Indian culture. I can go on and on, but its a book that must not be read. It must be experienced. If you have not read it, do yourself a favor pick it up and you'll definitely find some good in it.

Book Review: The secret of Nagas

I finally wrapped up Shantaram on Friday and finished the Secret of Nagas over the weekend. The book had better plot and is immensely readable. Amish has taken forward the debate on the concept of what is evil and how does one define it. The whole premise of the book is that 'Evil is in the eye of the beholder' and Amish has woven the whole plot around this basic concept and how Shiva, the man, literally crowned the Neelkanth for no reason other than his blue throat and given a status of a super hero, tries to help the kingdom Meluha, in its quest to vanquish its evil enemies. 

This quest carries him to the breadth of India and then on its length. Each battle is an eye opener and Shiva continues to discover the definition of evil is quite different from what one perceives. In this quest, he is assisted by a plethora of Kings, princes, princesses and others. The man, Shiva, who refuses to acknowledge his superhero status, wins people over by his deeds and deliverance of what he truly believes to be the contextual justice. Yet, at every step, he is surprised by the turn of events and the many faces of evil he discovers. Vasudevs, the clan of priests who advise him on his quest, direct him to seek the greatest of all evils and vanquish it, just like his predecessor, the great Rudra did. 

Strangely this what would be an epic journey throws his personal life and family in the direct line of fire and his constant struggle to make amends for his own failures and the pressure to keep his promises make up the drama portions of the story. 

The reader would find it interesting as a story given the spin that has been given to the traditional Hindu characters of Shiva, Sati, Daksha, Nandi, Veerabhadra and the rest. Readesr who are not familiar with Hindu mythology must be forewarned that the plot and the characters are just namesakes and have nothing to do with the actual Hindu mythology.

The two books , Immortals of Meluha and The Secret of Nagas are good books that are worthy reads given their fantasy genre and a healthy mix of masala. The points i have made about the earlier book holds good for this too. The prose is very average and the fantasy world has not been given too much focus like a Hogwarts or the Middle earth. Nevertheless, its a worthy read and more importantly will most likely make you want to read the third in the trilogy 'The oath of Vayuputras'.

Book Review: Immortals of Meluha by Amish

What if Shiva was a man as human as anyone can be thrust with an enormous burden of responsibility to fight for good and vanquish evil, thrust with a stature of god for reasons he cannot come to terms with, and not a worker of miracles like the lore says?
What a brilliant premise for a work of fiction? Amish does not disappoint. He has woven a fine work of classic Indian masala with a stage of all too familiar mythological names with a good dose of magic, bravery, brotherhood, romance and social issues into a story that often teeters to the grade of a B grade flick. But it is gripping nevertheless.
A self doubting , grounded and flawed man that Shiva is , instantly wins the reader's affection as a good hearted leader of a neighborhood youth brigade. Amish portrays Shiva as a people's leader who detests being bestowed any titular position and constantly reminds others that he is their friend and not a Lord as they often call him.
He has been lured out of his homeland at the base of the great Himalayas into the all too ideal land of  Meluha that is the land of Suryavanshis, the descendants of Lord Ram! He has been sought out and crowned as Neelkanth who is prophesied to be the saviour of all that stands for good. Like any grounded man, Shiva is at first baffled at this coronation. Soon and very soon, he finds himself in the midst of terrorist attacks and finds himself successfully defending the soon to be his sweet heart Sati from the hands of a powerful Naga (evil deformed monsters) who are after Sati, thereby further influencing the Meluhan's conviction that he is the Mahadev.
Soon, Shiva finds himself leading a battle against the Chandravanshis who are blamed for the repeated terrorist attacks on the Suryavanshi villages. The book weaves the plot leading up to the grand battle scene that stirs the reader's imaginations with its detailed formations and fights.
Amish does a fine job developing the characters in the book. Many of them are stellar personalities worth admiring. Parvateshwar the general is a worthy mention for his stern and yet fair demeanour towards Shiva. Needless to say, Shiva himself admires Parvateshwar for his righteousness.
Sati is another fine character Amish weaves into the book. The sparring between Shiva and Sati during the initial stages of the book is endearing for its brilliant dichotomy in the behavior of the two characters. Shiva his unabashedly brazen advances to be close with Sati while Sati herself a dignity personified flame that refuses to be disturbed by the winds that Shiva is, trying to swirl around and win her heart.
Where Amish Falters, is in his imagination and creativity. His imagination of Meluha is all to familiar modern day City but placed in the BC 1900s. It does not interest a reader that a 1900BC city actually has water taps or under ground drains. What has been squandered away is an opportunity to do a J.K.Rowling on this mythical and yet ideal city of Meluha.  Likewise the concept of Ayodhya being an uncouth society full of citizens every ready to indulge their desires of flesh is all too unimaginative and belongs in a B-Grade Hollywood flick some Chennai Based former Tennis aces would have produced out of Hollywood.
It has been said before and I repeat it, the conversations and phrases used are sometimes too American and seems tailored to the American audience than to the originality of character. "Is that the best line you can come up with " , "Is she spoken for".. are modern day usages that seem rather out of place in a book that is placed so far before Christ. Thankfully we don't have any characters using 'Holy Christ'.
Having pointed out the flaws, they can be forgiven for the sake of the overall story which is gripping and engaging to the last line. Hopefully Amish has saved enough delicacies to last two more books of the trilogy. The second part, the Secret of Nagas due in a month hopefully would be as interesting if not better than the first one.
Go for it, you may find yourself sneering in the beginning, but its a good book towards the end. The characters have been introduced, traps laid, let the story unfold Amish.
One more thing. While the characters are all too familiar mythological Hindu gods and their aides, the story itself has little to do with their mythology. Its important that young readers do not confuse the story to be the real story of Shiva. It is not.