Shantaram & Other Signs

I knew I’d love it after reading Page 1, which spoke mostly of “freedom”—the kind of personal freedom I’m obsessed with—and concluded: “So it begins, this story, like everything else—with a woman, and a city, and a little bit of luck.”

Gregory David Roberts’s descriptions of India began to rekindle my excitement.

But then, somewhere towards the end of the first chapter, I wondered if this was the right story for me to read before traveling. As always, I bought several books to introduce me to the culture and wonders of the place I was going. The God of Small Things was marvelous. Eat Pray Love is packed safely in my suitcase. Roberts’s Shantaram tells the story of the tarnished hero I can’t help but love.

However, in between his adventures and descriptions, Shantaram talks about how traveling alone in India is a dangerous thing, and how the Wise and Experienced suggest that visitors spend as little time in the city as possible.

I, of course, am leaving today to travel to India where I will spend the first week alone in the fourth largest city in the country.

Figures. One more thing to weigh an already heavy heart.

But the wanderlust of which I so often speak still stirs in my veins. It wasn’t the weather; a thick gray blanket hangs over the city, hugging the ground and threatening travel. Feeling its mist on my face this morning, I swore if my flight was delayed I wouldn’t go. Arriving at Gare du Nord I learned, with much chagrin, that SNCF was on strike again and would add an additional hour to my trip to the airport. I swore if I missed my plane I wouldn’t rebook. I am a lover of The Alchemist after all, and a believer of signs.

Yet when I finally found myself in front of check in, armed with passport and boarding pass, I couldn’t help but smile. The people of Qatar Airways are so… Eastern. They will take me to a new place, a new world. They will take me to Chennai.

So, like Shantaram, this story also begins with a woman, a city, and a bit of luck. And suddenly I’m excited.