some things are just meant to happen,

so does getting to read something extraordinary just for the fact that you didn't find anything else to read. and a feeling to surrender to someone else's philosophy to take you deep into the process of assessing your own life. this is what happened when i surrendered my thoughts to keep up with a goonda. a gangster. no, i didn't join a cult group or a faction. i just finished reading Shantaram - a story of a gangster, told by a gangster.

i must accept that it took me more than two-and-a-half months to finish this book, but i must also confess that it was worth it. the great part is that it never occurred to me that i have had enough of this guy and it's time to move onto something more subtle. this book did nothing less than an extraordinary job to make a real-life-hero out of a gangster. every minuscule narration in this brings out the literary genius of GDR. and at this point, i think i have enough of his wisdom that i can distinctly delineate each character from the book. hmm, i see them often :o)

GDR must have added lots of twists and turns to the real story, but the way it's been told is what holds the line. the philosophy did the just thing to keep it real and to relate to difficult details of life. did i find myself crying while turning the weight to one side? possibly. do i respect the courage and vision with which goondas lead their lives? certainly. it's not for what they do, or how they do it, but for the confidence and organization with which they do it.

what i wonder is, what made him positive in all his dealings. the book portrayed him as someone who you would walk to any point in time and he would be ready to help you out. i think that is the soul of this book and which is what kept it alive till the last written word, any beyond. keep yourself open to all that happens to you and you will see wonders. may be, you will pay dearly to experience that, but, certainly, a million will be enlightened with your experience.

for what it's worth, thanks for making a literary genius out of a runaway. i am not sure whether Shantaram's sequels could be as invigorating, but i would wait for them. life goes on... (fuck, i thought i would write a review, i just ended with a cryptic note.)