घेउन टाक

So I was passing by Leopold last night when I saw a firang with long hair on a Bullet. It could only be one person. After initially deciding not to bug him I walked back and had a small conversation.

Noteworthy points

1.) The sequels to Shantaram are on the back burner. He's writing the script for a movie (not Shantaram) now.

2.) The casting for Shantaram has still not been done. So we still don't know who is going to play Abdullah Taheri. Apparently the casting will now be done in May.

Mumbai Mirror is reporting that they have found the ever smiling taxi driver who took Shantaram to his village where he got his name.

t's a forty-something, ever-smiling taxi driver, Kishore, who has been immortalised by Gregory David Roberts in his gritty novel Shantaram. Kishore is one of the main protagonists Prabaker, in the book which is soon to be turned into a Hollywood blockbuster starring Johnny Depp.

In the novel, Prabaker, whose character is bumped off in the end, introduces the author to the seamy underclass of Colaba and takes Roberts to his village in Aurangabad where his mother gives the brooding Australian fugitive his Indian name, 'Shantaram'. It now emerges that Kishore/Prabaker who spent his childhood in Colaba and was sexually abused by foreigners, was the first man that the children from Anchorage shelter home approached for help since he was a familiar figure to them.

"I was 12 years old when I became a victim of paedophilia. The exploitation went on for eight years. I was angry but I did not complain because I got gifts and money from the foreigners," he says. "I had seen these children (from Anchorage) so when they came to me for help I knew exactly what was happening to them."

Earlier, say activists, Kishore also played a leading role in nailing the Swiss couple Wilhelm and Lili Marti who were convicted for child abuse and abduction in March 2003.

And it was his extensive understanding of the seamy underside of Colaba which eventually drew Gregory Roberts to his story. "He had wanted to see what life in an Indian village was like, so I took him to my home," says Kishore.

But more interesting than fiction, is his own life story. Married and a father of four, Kishore ran away from home when he was just seven.

He had received no formal education because his caste-conscious village would not allow Dalit children like him to share the school with upper caste children. He survived his first few months in the city by polishing shoes outside CST and picking rags till one day he ventured to the Gateway of India where he found that it was easier to make a living begging from the foreigners who thronged the area.

As for his future plans--having seen a certain writer at work at close quarter, Kishore is inspired. He is writing his autobiography in Marathi and has finished "about hundred pages."

Ref: Mumbai Mirror

Hung around with Shantaram at Leopold today.

Yesss :)

Met him along with Soumya, Ami, Ankur and Priyanka.

He came across as a nice, pleasant, approachable chap. It felt very easy to talk to him and ask him questions about his book. It felt like I've known him for ages and we're old friends meeting after long and not like meeting a fancy celebrity or something.

I got my two main questions answered.

1.) What was the Sapna story inspired from?

A.) In 82 there was a time when some servants from a slum were going around and murdering people in Colaba which created a scare.

(I was 5 then so I couldn't possibly remember this although I did live in main Colaba at the time near Taj).


2.) Who is playing Abdullah Taheri in the movie?

A.) It's not decided yet. They are interviewing Indians all over the world including India, Canada, etc

..

From other questions I gathered he's against capital punishment.

Ami asked a good question about what ought to be done with the really sick criminals like rapists, etc. Unfortunately we couldn't complete the discussion since he had to leave for another appointment.

Not before taking a nice group photo which I hope to lay my hands on soon :)

Shantaram photos from the interview attended at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival

 

 

Rest at http://flickr.com/photos/cnb/tags/shantaram/

Attended an interview of Shantaram today where he spoke about his life and the book.

Got visual confirmation of the fact that the guy is a stud and totally authentic.

Some important points from the interview.

A gem from him. Not exact words.

'Understanding is the first step to forgiveness. Once you attempt to understand why a person did something to you then you can forgive him/her. Without doing that you are holding that anger within you. Remember the choice to forgive someone is yours. You are the only 'free' person. Everyone else 'binds' themselves to a notion of how they should act'.

This realization came to him as he was chained to a wall and being tortured. He realised he was the only free man in that room.

And that is how the book starts.

“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 of 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 an universe of possibility. And the choice you make between hating and forgiving, can become the story of your life.”

Other gems -- again not exact words.

"The worst thing you can do to a person is force solitude. As human beings we need each other."

"The one thing that stops a person from totally going under is love. The ones who completely lose it in life are those without that thread of love binding them to humanity. I'm lucky I had that umbilical cord of my mother's unconditional love to save me."

He said the characters in the book are his inventions and not real. But the events in it are real. So yes, he _is_ an escaped convict from an Australian maximum security prison who came to Bombay, joined the Bombay Underworld, lived in a slum (which is quite close to my house), started a clinic in that slum, spent time in Arthur Road jail, went to Afghanistan supplying arms to the Taliban, left the Bombay Underworld, got arrested and imprisoned with terrorists in Germany. That's all real.

The fact file on Gregory David Roberts.

* Born June, 1952, Melbourne, Australia

* Founder member, Anarchist People’s Liberation Army, 1969

* Union activist, Builders Labourers Federation, 1972

* Founder member, Australian Independence Movement, United Front Against Fascism, 1973

* Student Leader, Melbourne University, occupation of university Council Chambers, 1974

* Student Leader, Black Week Aboriginal Activism Movement, 1975

* Marriage break-up, loss of daughter in custody dispute, beginning of heroin addiction, 1976

* Armed robberies with toy pistol to support heroin habit, end year 1977

* Capture and imprisonment, 1978; Escape from Maximum Security Pentridge prison, 1980

* Helped by motorcycle gang, BLF Union, & revolutionaries to escape to New Zealand, 1980

* Fight conservation campaign to save sacred Maori mountain, Mount Maungahiha, 1981

* Escape from custody (twice) in New Zealand, end 1981

* Arrive in India, beginning 1982


FROM 1982 to 1990

* Six months in remote Maharashtrian village, learn to speak Marathi language

* Live in Bombay slum, establish and operate free clinic for slum dwellers

* Imprisoned in India for 4 months

* Recruited by Bombay mafia, training in currency crime, gold smuggling, passports

* Gunrunning operation to unit of mujaheddin fighters in Afghanistan

* Wounded in action, evacuated to Pakistan, recover and return to Bombay

* Appointed controller mafia forgery unit, write short stories, published in popular series

* Passport smuggler to Nigeria, Zaire, Iraq, Iran, Mauritius, Sri Lanka

* Establish casting agency for foreign extras in Bollywood movies, act in movies

* Arrive in Germany, work as singer, establish rock band, receive recording contract

* Manhunt by European police, escape custody in Italy & Switzerland, escape to India

* Act in Bollywood movies & TV dramas, establish travel agency in Bombay

* Passport smuggling to Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, Nigeria, Zaire, Mauritius, etc.

* Break with Bombay mafia council, freelance drug smuggling missions to Europe


FROM 1990 to 2004

Photo by Christopher Cox 2004 * Captured Frankfurt, 1990, imprisoned in Preungesheim prison with terrorists, 1990-91

* Teach myself to read & write German, win concessions, extradited to Australia, end 1991

* 2 years solitary confinement, 4 years mainstream prison in Australia, begin novel, 1991-97

* Develop philosophical and cosmoogical model, "Resolution Theory"

* Released from prison, begin novel 1997, end parole 2002

* Sell rights Shantaram, in USA (St. Martin’s Press) & UK (TimeWarner Books UK)

* Publish Australian edition of novel, Shantaram, August, 2003

* Tour Australia, New Zealand, Europe, UK, Ireland, Hong Kong during 2004

Gregory David Roberts is going to be at the Kala Ghoda festival on the 5th Feb 2006 at David Sasoon Gardens which as graciously pointed out by eddd is the garden in the David Sassoon Library [Opp Jehangir Art/ Rhythm house]

Q. Who is Gregory David Roberts?
A. Author of Shantaram of course.

Q. What is Kala Ghoda Arts Festival?
A.  A festival in South Bombay consisting of dance, music, theatre, cinem, literature, workshops, heritage walks, childrens events, street events. The complete schedule for this year is at http://www.kalaghodaassociation.com/kgaf06_schedule.xls

So who is coming to ask Shantaram questions in Marathi? :)

Vikram sermonizing to Lin in Shantaram

`Lin, a man has to find a good woman, and when he finds her he has to win her love. Then he has to earn her respect. Then he has to cherish her trust. And then he has to, like, go on going that for as long as they live. Until they both die. That's what it's all about. That's the most important thing in the world. That's what a man is, yaar. A man is truly a man when he wins the love of a good woman, earns her respect, and keeps her trust. Until you can do that, you are not a man.'

From Shantaram

That chemical absolution is paid for, like everything else in the universe, with light.

The first light that junkies lose is the light in their eyes. A junkies eyes are as light less as the eyes of Greek statues, as light-less as hammered lead, as light-less as a bullet hole in a dead man's back.

The next light lost is the light of desire. Junkies kill desire with the same weapon they use on hope and dream and honour: the club made from their craving.

And when all the other lights of life are gone, the last light lost is the light of love. Sooner or later, when it's down to the last hit, the junkie will give up the woman he loves, rather then go without; sooner or later, every hard junkie becomes a devil in exile.