Shantaram

Greetings,

Here are some quotes and interesting facts in Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts.

Roberts escaped from an Australian prison, moved to Bombay, started a free health clinic in the slums, joined the mafia, learned and worked in their operations, ran their passport or "book" section, learned Hindi and Marathi, spent time in an Indian jail, acted in films, fought in Afghanistan and wrote his book.

A central theme is love, hate, freedom and the choices we make.

..."The world is run by one million evil men, ten million stupid men and a hundred million cowards. The evil men are the power, the rich men, politicians and religious fanatics whose decisions rule the world and lead towards it's greed and destruction."

..."The stupid men are the police and soldiers who enforce the rules of the evil men. They are standing armies of twelve countries and the police forces of twenty more. They have power and influence. They give their lives for governments and causes. They are brave and they are stupid because they are used, abandoned and betrayed by the governments."

"Markets are about greed and control. There are two elements that make for commercial crime. Any one of them on it's own is not enough. Greed without control or control without greed won't give you the black market. Men can be greedy for the profit from let's say pastries, but if there isn't strict control on the baking of pastries, there won't be a black market for apple strudel. And the government has very strict controls on the disposal of sewage, but without the greed for profit from sewage, there won't be a black market for shit. When greed meets control, you have a black market."

Roberts discusses the nuances of black market currency profit versus the government restricted Indian rupee.

Used passports or "books" details the counterfeit operation. The question they ask a client is, "How bad do you need the book?"

According to Roberts, there are three categories of clients.

Economic refugees seeking a better life in another country. Turks wanting to work in Germany, Albanians wanting to work in Italy, Algerians wanting to work in France, Asians wanting to work in Canada or America. A passport runs them $5,000 - $25,000.

Political refugees are the second client base. They are victims of wars and conflicts based on community, religion and ethnicity. At any one time there are twenty million refugees living in camps and safe havens around the world. The Hong Kong handover to China is an example.

A new book costs them between $10,000 - $50,000.

Criminals are the third client base. Like Roberts they are thieves, smugglers, and contract killers needing a new identity. They are dictators, military coup leaders, secret policemen, and bureaucrats from corrupt regimes.

Traveling on false passports Roberts delivers two books - a perfect, unblemished Swiss passport, and a virgin, original Canadian passport to a man in Kinshasa, Zaire for $200,000. The buyer travelled safely to Venezuela. 

Robert's boss in Bombay deals with agents in Asia, South America, and Africa. As he explains, no single group of citizens are more cynical about politics and politicians than professional criminals. They see all politicians as ruthless and corrupt and all political systems favor the powerful rich over the defenseless poor.

Criminals are egalitarian. They don't care about color, creed, race or the political orientation of clients and they don't judge them when asking about their past. Every life was reduced to just one question. 

"How bad do you need the book?"

The "book" business generated two million a year in clear profit. Every dollar went to support refugee programs for displaced Afghans and Iranians in India. Every passport bought by someone purchased fifty more books, identity cards or travel documents for Iranian and Afghan refugees. Fate built around the greed and fear of tyrants rescued other victims of the tyranny.

Metta.