There are only two things you’re likely to encounter in India as much as Delhi belly: ubiquitous copies of Gregory David Roberts’ best-selling 2003 novel Shantaram in hostel lobbies and Swiss bakeries and, as noted in the book, constantly “being stared at with the […] almost accusatory censure of those who’ve convinced themselves they’ve found the one true path”.
Based on Roberts’ own life, Shantaram tells the story of Lin, an armed robber on the run with a false passport. Lin ends up in a Bombay slum and is adopted “like a son” by a mystic Afghan mafia boss before becoming a gun runner to Africa and a mujahedeen (guerrilla fighter) in Afghanistan.
