Shantaram

Lin sits with eight other men at a marble table in Dongri. They are Khan’s mafia council. Khan asks Lin to speak in English because they wish to practice during this monthly discussion. He introduces Lin to the others: Sobhan Mahmoud, Abdul Ghani, Khaled, Rajubhai, Keki Dorabjee, Farid, and Madjid. Three more men join them and sit apart without speaking. They are Andrew Ferreira, Salman Mustaan, and Sanjay Kumar.

Khan gives Lin a poster that contains a manifesto from Sapna. Sapna’s followers committed six murders in the past month. However, at Khan’s command, the newspapers do not report the gruesome details. Officially, Sapna does not exist. After reading the manifesto, Lin says that Sapna may be a Christian, given that the poster contains Christian phrases such as “Do this in memory of me” (290). It also bastardizes the Sermon on the Mount.

Ghani changes the subject, and they smoke. As Lin hallucinates mildly, Khan asks him for a discussion theme. Lin chooses the phrase “Our suffering is our religion” (293), a line from Sapna’s poster. He proposes that they discuss suffering. Madjid starts. He says suffering is a choice. Because a man can master his emotions, suffering is evidence of weakness. They argue about whether suffering can lead to strength. Khan wonders where the control over suffering comes from.

As each man speaks, Lin realizes that he wants Khan’s approval. He has never felt as safe as now with Khan, whom he has adopted as a father. Later, Lin will think that Khan’s words and actions are all parts of a performance. When they are done, Khan asks Lin to return as a favor on the following day.

In the slums, Lin sees Joseph near his hut. He is helping a little girl make a protective sign against the evil eye with blue paint. Prabu says Joseph took his punishment seriously and is doing well. When Lin asks him about suffering, Prabu says that all suffering relates to a hunger.

Johnny wakes Lin because a man is bleeding. His name is Ameer, and he has a gash in his arm. His gang was fighting, and he can’t go to the police. Lin agrees to stitch the wound, but there is no anesthetic. He remembers stitching a man in prison. Ameer remains calm despite the pain. Lin dusts the wound with an antibiotic and refuses Ameer’s money.

Prabu arrives and tells Lin that his friends are in jail. They go to the police station near Leopold’s, where Lin gives an officer 50 rupees. He is surprised to see that the friends Prabu referred to are the bear handlers. Kano, their bear, attacked the handlers of a female bear. Kano is now in custody. Prabu cries and hugs Kano in his cell, but they can’t persuade the guard to release him. The handlers only want to be in the cell with Kano. Lin pays the guard to transfer them.

Prabu tells Lin that he is in love with one of Kumar’s daughters, Parvati. The bear story will impress her. When he gets home, Lin finds a bath prepared for him, probably by Ameer’s family. Lin gets more medicine from Qasim, who chooses his son, Ayub, to be Lin’s assistant.

Lin visits Khan in his garden. He asks Lin to inform him of any new information regarding Sapna. He also asks Lin to teach English to his 11-year-old nephew, Tariq. Tariq will stay with Lin for 12 weeks. Khan wants him to know foreign ways and experience the slum. Lin is reluctant, but Khan insists on Tariq visiting for two days. Then Lin can decide to continue.

When Lin meets Tariq, the boy is nervous and unhappy. Lin is annoyed that he capitulated to Khan so easily. After they leave together, Tariq goes into a mosque, and Lin hesitates to enter. Tariq prays and comes out minutes later. Lin orders him never to run away again. After Lin apologizes for his anger, Tariq smiles and it reminds Lin of Prabu’s grin.

Lin and Tariq find Lisa at Karla’s house. She and Lin drink together after Tariq falls asleep. She has also taken an opiate. Lisa tries to seduce Lin by showing him her breasts and putting his hand on her thigh. Before they can go further, she becomes nauseated from the alcohol and goes to the bathroom to vomit. After Lisa passes out, Lin searches the home. He sees Karla’s journal and opens it. It contains excerpts of texts from poems and novels and some original poetry. On one page, it says, “THE QUESTION: What will Sapna do? THE ANSWER: Sapna will kill us all” (335).

He also finds a passage that refers to him. On the page, she wonders why she stopped Lin from saying he loved her. The last page has a poem she wrote. He copies it down and replaces the journal. He looks at everything in her home and finds his clothes.

As Tariq and Lin walk toward the slum, a huge pack of dogs attacks them. They run to a pile of timber and fight the dogs from there. When they are almost overwhelmed, Abdullah appears and kills two dogs with a metal rod, and the dogs scatter. He had been waiting for them when he heard the dogs.