It took me a while (I started when I went to India, December last year)… then again, I wasn’t rushing either. But I’ve finally finished the book Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts!
The book tells a (1000 page!) story about a Australian drug addict who escapes from prison and flees to India. Here he lives in the slums, sets up a health clinic, works for the maffia, makes friends, enemies, fights in Afghanistan, and much, much more. A very inspiring book and well written book (descriptive without ever getting tedious), which I will read again somewhere in the future. Thank you, our friend RyanRowe.com (if he could, he would add the .com to his name!), for recommending it!
Here are some memorable quotes:
“Every day, when you’re on the run, the whole of your life, every minute is a short story with a happy ending.”
“Come, you are not drinking! I hate it when people take so long to drink a single glass. It is like putting on a condom to masturbate.”
“Sometimes, in India, you have to surrender before you win.”
“And make sure he doesn’t learn any bad words, don’t teach him any swearing. There are plenty of arseholes and bastards around who will teach him the wrong sisterfucking words. Keep him away from motherfuckers like that.”
“Driving is not so good. But I have to say, the spitting and insulting is a first-class job.”
“You were naked. Naked, without any clothes on. This is India, nobody is ever naked in India. And especially, nobody is naked without clothes. So please, promise me that you will not be naked in India, especially not without your clothes.”
“If fate doesn’t make you laugh, then you just don’t get the joke.”
These quotes do not even begin to do justice to the book as a whole, so go out there and buy it, borrow it, steal it. And when you’re done, share it with others! How about set it free on BookCrossing.com :)
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By the by. I’ve always listened to a lot of Dutch music, and now being overseas doesn’t change that. Maybe now even more so! It comes in all kinds of flavors, one of which is, brace yourself, Dutch rap! One of the current hits was performed live for a radio show, with a few cams recording the show. Have a look, I thought it was awesome (blog mailing list subscribers, I think you might have to go to our blog directly to see the video):
Recording from my favourite DJ, Giel on 3FM (listen live!).
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1 comment:
I haven't finished the book yet, still another four hundred pages to go, but I love it! The quotes you gave are good ones indeed! I hope to finish the bit in this year... ;D
Hope you are both well and look forward to seeing you soon.
Cheers,
T
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