They join a mujahedeen camp in the Afghan mountains, where Lin works as a medic. Lin agrees, and the two men make the perilous journey, narrowly escaping arrest in Pakistan. Khader asks Lin to come with him to Afghanistan, where he plans to aid the mujahedeen in their war against the Soviet Union. Word of his knowledge spreads, and people come to him for treatment and advice about other conditions. When a fire breaks out, Lin uses his basic medical knowledge to treat the injured.

He befriends his neighbors and finds that although they are desperately poor, they are peaceful and wise. Lin soon finds himself at home in the slum. Prabaker arranges for Lin to live with him in a Bombay slum. Due to his fake passport and his unwillingness to come to the attention of officials or Westerners, Lin has no way of making money. She chooses “Shantaram,” which means “Man of God’s Peace.” On the way back to Bombay, Prabaker and Lin spend a night drinking at an illegal bar, and Lin is robbed. Prabaker’s mother decides to give Lin a new name, in her language. After a long journey by train and cart, they arrive in a poor but peaceful village in beautiful surroundings.

Prabaker invites his new friend to accompany him to his home, a rural village called Sundar. He meets a group of expatriate criminals who congregate at a bar called Leopold’s. He visits the slave market and a hashish den. Prabaker offers to show Lin “the real Bombay” and the two men begin a tour that takes them into the criminal underworld of the city. Meanwhile, Lin and Prabaker become firm friends.

He hires a local guide, Prabaker, who dubs him “Lin.” Prabaker takes Lin to the Colaba district of the city, where Lin meets Karla, a beautiful and mysterious Swiss woman to whom Lin is instantly attracted. The novel opens as Lindsay, a fugitive and recovering heroin addict, arrives in Bombay. Roberts has announced that he plans three sequels to Shantaram: the first of these, The Mountain Shadow, was published in 2015. The novel’s protagonist, who goes by the false name “Lindsay Ford,” makes a home in the Bombay slums and eventually becomes involved in arms dealing in Afghanistan. Shantaram (2003) caused a sensation on its publication because the novel’s events are based on the life of its author Gregory David Roberts, an Australian bank robber and heroin addict who escaped from jail and fled to Bombay, India, becoming one of Australia’s most wanted men.

Shantaram book review