Bombay Love

The city once known as Bombay is a beautiful place.  Now it is called Mumbai, a change made by an adamantly pro-India, anti-British colonialism political party.  I read most recently a fabulous book that took place in Bombay, before it became Mumbai, but it is still the same place.  In the city there are well over a hundred different languages and dialects, amazing food, smells, beaches, culture, and tradition.  The book that enlightened me to this place was 'Shantaram.'  I mentioned it in a previous post before having read it, and I am now following up.

Shantaram is now one of my favorite books.  And, I think that says a lot with the amount of books I read.  It is over 900 pages of brilliant writing, imagery, and philosophic depth.  It is a book you cannot simply nibble, but must savor and devour like a succulent and eloquently nuanced dish at a great restaurant.  And the theme that stays with it more than any other is 'Love.'  

In India there are more than a billion people, and not too far from now will surpass China in population.  And, it is about six times the size of France.  However, paraphrasing the author Gregory David Roberts, it is a tribute to the love of the place that they all get along with relatively few serious incidents.  Sure, there are battles, riots, etc., but over the years they have generally coexisted well with one another in peace even with hundreds of differing cultures, religions, and languages.

 

There is a part in the book where the main character is boarding a train to go to the country.  As everyone wants a good seat, there is pushing, shoving, and clamoring for space.  But, as soon as the train starts to leave the station people are calm and composed, offering food, kind words, and smiles to their neighbors even with feet in their faces, and overly cramped quarters.  In other words, there is order when it is most important.  If a similar size country had a billion Americans, Australians, or Frenchmen, you can be sure there would not be that kind of civility and calm.  And that is why India, and Bombay specifically, are the world capitals of love.

Shantaram

Just recently I purchased a book on a recommendation of a friend. The book is called Shantaram. I haven't started it yet because I'm still reading a book by Richard L. Holm called 'The American Agent.' The latter I know is good, and I recommend it to all of you. Especially if you don't like the CIA.


FYI - Everything the CIA does is known to three groups before it does anything: the President, the National Security Council and select senate and congressional oversight committees. However, if they screw up, all three of those groups deny culpability and blame it on the CIA. If they are successful, you don't hear about them, but the President gets all the credit. Not to say that the CIA hasn't screwed up in the past, but they've got an unfair portion of the blame. It's a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' catch-22 for them. Often they are told to do something by the President that they don't want to do, but have to, then get blamed when it doesn't work. Anyway...I'm rambling.

But let me just say one thing about Shantaram. This caught me immediately. Here is the 'About the Author' section:

"Gregory David Roberts was born in Melbourne, Australia. Sentenced to nineteen years in prison for a series of armed robberies, he escaped and spent ten of his fugitive years in Bombay - where he established a free medical clinic for slum-dwellers, and worked as a counterfeiter, smuggler, gunrunner, and street soldier for a branch of the Bombay mafia. Recaptured, he served out his sentence, and established a successful multimedia company upon his release. Roberts is now a full-time writer and lives in Bombay."


I think that's all I need to say. Read the book.