Shantaram

i finally finished the book. It ended so abruptly it took me some time to get used to it. Shantaram, written by Gregory David Roberts is, to put it simply, one heck of a book!!!

A friend of mine who has never and i repeat NEVER read a book in his life told me he was reading it and he actually liked it. Then when he gave me a copy i kept wondering how he'd finish atleast half the book cos it's one HUGE book!!

Gregory David Roberts, a convict running from the Australian Prison who adopted the name Lindsay in New Zealand and to Lin'baba' in Bombay and Shantaram in the village of Sunder, lets us peep into his highly adventurous and sometimes scary life in Bombay.

It was different reading this book because i was really aware of the fact that the people in the book were real, breathing and existing at one time or another. I don't know why that really gave me the goosebumps! I've finished reading the book i still want to know more. I want to know EVERYTHING!!! lol i know it's crazy but that's how it is. I want to go Leopold's cafe, to the zopadhpatti near the World Trade Centre and meet Johnny Cigar and the others!!I want to meet Didier and Vikram and Lettie! I want to see them atleast. That's the effect the book's had on me. I cannot stop thinking about the book which may be partly because i'm pretty jobless but majorly because it's so well written. I keep wondering about their lives and how it's changed over the years. :)

After i started reading the book i wanted to see what Linbaba looked like so i googled him. what i expected what not what i got!lol but now that i know the face of Linbaba it somehow fits in its own way. The fact that all this is true doesn't fail to amaze me everytime i think about the book. It's just...WOW! comparing my life to all the lives mentioned in the book i feel like i know nothing about anything!!!

This is the only time ever that i've wished there was time machine so that i could go back in time and look over everything that happened. The closest i've come to that is reading the book and in a way that's the only time machine there is. I'm so glad i read the book because it's taught me loads. Some of the ideas expressed in them is so different from what i've been taught and what i've learnt that i'm forced to reconsider and adapt to the new ideas. They say a book can change ur life but i never read a book that did. This may be the closest i've come to change something about me and my life.

I can't really explain it. Abdel Khader Khan's words make sense to some extent for me. I don't agree with everything yet maybe because i don't know much yet or maybe because i just don't see it like he does. But it does have an impact.

Lastly Linbaba gave a tour to Madonna recently. He showed her Leopold's and all the other places. I saw it on tv. lol all i wanna say is Madonna isn't the only one who wants to experience the magic of Leopold's and Haji Ali Mosque and Strands and the other places that's been so vividly explained in the book!!!!! :)
*hint hint* Linbaba!! :)

It's been a while since i last posted but that's the way i am! LAZY! :P

Anyway i'm one of the billions of fans of cricket and i've been following the ongoing India Vs Australia series with a lot of interest! They are my two most favorite teams in the World. Yes i like Australia! They play good cricket - Most of the times atleast. They know how to win and that makes them more aggressive..more invincible...
One of the reasons why everyone is so damned pissed with the Australian cricket team is that they can almost get away with anything. And the thing that annoys us even more is that they talk the talk AND walk the walk!!!

Of course that is no excuse for the kind of cricket being played... It pains me to watch Anil Kumble on the television set. The man doesn't deserve what he got.. first the racial row and later watching his team collapse around him to a defeat by 10 minutes..literally!! I almost cried watching his interview on star cricket! He looked so absolutely devastated and angry! Now everyone's talking about his last statement at the post match press conference - "only one team played in the true spirit of the game" or something of that sort.

Coming to the racial row.. No Evidence...No case. PERIOD! Bhajji doesn't deserve the ban!!! If Bhajji does then so do most of the Aussie team!!! On the news channels i read a bulletin that claimed that Mike Procter said Bhajji meant to offend Andrew Symonds! Of course he did! Does that mean Symonds didn't mean to offend Bhajji? or that everytime there's an argument between two players they don't mean to "offend" each other?!?! The only factor to determine here is if the comment was racist and since they don't have evidence there's no case!!! hey but the odds seem to be even-ing out now.. Brad Hogg! here we come!!! If you abuse u got to face the consequences right? isn't that what happened with Bhajji? though noone can say if it's fair or not! Don't they abuse too? The kind of language used on the field isn't all gentlemanly..all u have to do is read their lips which isn't really that tough! My question though is... Why would Bhajji call Symonds a "monkey" for no apparent reason? According to Symonds, Bhajji hit lee while taking a run and Symonds went in to have a word with him and that's when Bhajji retorted! so how is that Bhajji's fault? Now are we saying that even touching an Aussie is a crime?I can't stop speculating!!

Another thing that i really didn't get was when Ponting in the post match press conference said he absolutely did not ground the ball that he caught while Dhoni was batting. I mean Look At The Replays!!! If that isn't grounding the ball i don't knwo what is!!! It was quite funny actually and it sounded quite silly when Ponting said that at the press conference. oh well..!

And the umpiring decisions! They were painful to watch. Everytime we got a wrong decision i would swear and yell at the tv screen hoping for a miracle and wishing they would reverse the decision. I don't want to say that it cost us the match because that would sound like we're sore losers. The reason i say that the umpiring was only partially responsible is because Jumbo and Bhajji fought it out until the almost end! It did play a big role in the outcome of the match and i don't see how the Aussies can enjoy winning this match. It doesn't really prove they're a superior team. I just don't get that. The way they celebrated. Yeah i know they equaled their own record and stuff but it isn't the destination that matters..it's the journey! :)

Considering all the umpiring errors and the pressure tactics used by the ever "aggressive" Aussie team, i'm proud we almost made it! :)

phew! feels good to get this off my chest! :)