Suggest a quote from Shantaram

[Andy]

You may have noticed that on the pages of the main introduction site we have a selection of quotes from Shantaram.

I would like you to suggest a quote, and each month we will update the main site with the newest selections and the person who suggested it.

If you can give a few reasons why you like this particular quote, and what It means to you all the better.

Andy

[Matt]

Great idea Andy, I shall surely contribute, although right now, trying to find just one good one...

I think my first would be 'The Progress to Complexity...'

Although I don't share that philosophy, I personally think it's the crux of what the book was about. You can take all of GDR's experiences, but without Khaderbhai's 'Progress to Complexity', the book wouldn't have been what it was. In that respect, I think it's the Central Nervous System of what we know and love of Shantaram.

Failing that, you could use...

'Linbaba, please stroke it my Father's bellies...' Prabaker.

[Andy]

You know, I was thinking of putting together a page about Prabaker, but I don't want to create a spoiler page if you know what I mean
I was concerned to keep the purpose of this forum from spoiling people's reading of the book.

Saying that, I think there are so many instances of humor in that particular character that it would be nice to do something around that idea.

I'll wait to hear what others think, 

[richasheth]

That would be lovely!
the character of Prabhakar was truly an amazing one!

Although many would not like to know the end if they have not finished the book.. but you could start something of a tribute page to all his jokes and what people like most about him!
i know i would love to read about it and add my own comments to it!

i say.. lovely idea!

[Andy]

Great I'm glad you like the idea.. I will start on a characters page as soon as possible.

Thanks for the suggestions all, I can already see where you guys would like to see this whole site go, and thanks again.

Andy

[Alys]

How about this quote:

"The simple and astonishing truth about India and Indian people is that when you go there, and deal with them, your heart always guides you more wisely than your head. There's nowhere else in the world where that's quite so true. I didn't know that then, as I closed my eyes in the dark and breathing silence on that first night in Bombay. I was running on instinct, and pushing my luck. I didn't know that I'd already given my heart of the woman, and the city. And knowing none of it, I fell, before the smile faded from my lips, into a dreamless, gentle sleep."

It's nicely written, don't you think?

[Andy]

That's a great quote. Thankyou for suggesting it. I'll inculde it in the next update to be featured on the main page.

Thanks again.

[Matt]

How about the bear hug?

I know what you mean about spoiling it for people, I actually found out things from being on the internet and various forums before I read the book and found out the fate of our little guide.

It was disappointing really, and I agree that you should try and keep it from being spoiled for everyone.

[KatieJ]

Matt, hi 

I cried when I read it. It's such a dramatic and personal section of the book - I felt really drawn into the entire scene. But you're right, we shouldn't spoil it for readers that haven't read it yet.

I also found this quote today whilst thumbing through my now well-worn copy.

"Its beyonnd what we see or even what we feel.It's an order of truth that separates the profound from the merely clever, and the reality from perception. We're helpless in the face of it and the cost of knowing love is sometimes greater than any heart would willingly pay"

[Ali07]

heh, nice quote katie.

i took shantaram with me, yesterday when i went for coffee so reading it there i found this and had to scribble it down to remember it surely

"Sometimes we love with nothing more than hope. Sometimes we cry with everything except tears"

[tiger_rider]

for some reason, the quote I'm drawn to is Prabaker's "A man must love his bear".  I can actually picture what I think he looks like saying that and for me it has many meanings depending on how one looks at the scene.

I also like...
"One of the reasons why we crave love, and seek it so desperately, is that love is the only cure for loneliness, and shame, and sorrow."

tr

[Andy]

Mr. Tiger_rider, you really cracked me up there - "a man must love is bear" 

I love that you've put that in your 'statement' so it appears in the posts. 

I don't know what you mean about the phrase having many meanings depending on how it is viewed - why not tell us what you think about it? I'm all ears- honestly, I think its great the way everyone sees different things in words, quotes, text and books!

I like your other quote too.. very worthy of being added to the website. Many thanks, I'm going to include it when I next have the update go through 

[purplefish]

i cant remember the exact words, wish i wrote it down, but something along the lines of :
"the universe sends us people to show us what we could let outselves become, but shouldnt, and we love them anyway"
this rings especially true for me
 

[Andy]

You know, I'm gonna have to look that one up.  It has that 'Shantaram' ring to it, and I just need to have more quotes for our visitors to read. Now I'm gonna spend a good few days looking over shantaram for that one hehe 

[madhu]

One of my favorite ones is here but its kind of long

"Our heart starts to feel like an overcrowded lifeboat. You throw your pride out to keep it afloat, and your respect and your independence. After a while you start throwing people out - your friends, everyone you used to know.And it’s still not enough.The lifeboat is still sinking, and you know its going to take you down with it."

[Andy]

Yes I noticed you wrote about that in the other thread. I must say I was impressed. Thanks for the suggestions Madhu. Are you enjoying the Shantaram forum this far

[madhu]

Andy,

I am glad i found this forum. Often we read books and our hearts are swelled with words but cant share it with people around, but this is a great outlet to discuss those feelings. Great work on the forum. You should somehow get GDR to visit this place and arrang a chat session or something.

I did hear that he is engaged to Francoise...who is the president for Hope for India. She actually lives in chennai in south india along the marina beach.  I am from chennai as well but currently abroad. She seems to be an interesting woman too and i am going to try and meet her when i go in summer if she is there of course.

Happy dreaming Madhu!

Madhu

[mev]

Its a long one but here goes...

"You know its ture when you listen to them [men], in the hours before they go into battle. They talk about home, and they talk about the women they love. And you know its true when you watch them die. If he's near the earth or on the earth in the last moments, a dying man reaches out for it, to squeeze a grasp of soil in his hand. if he can, he'll raise his head to look at the mountain, the valley or the plain. If he's a long way from home he'll think about it, and he'll talk about it. He'll talk about his village, or his homw town, or the city where he grew up. The land matters, at the end. And at the very last, he won't scream of causes. At the very last, he'll murmur or he'll cry out the name of a sister or a daughter or a lover or a mother, even as he speaks the name of God. The end mirrors the beginning. In the end, it's a woman, and a city.

Its my favourite quote/paragraph from the book. Its so powerful, it makes you wonder that if in the end 'a woman and a city' is all it boils down to then why do all these things we do... Why risk our lives fighting wars when in the end it isnt the cause we are fighing for...

[Andy]

Hey Mev, welcome to the forum

That's a great quote, thanks for taking the time to write it out and give us your thoughts.

It was a part of the book that stuck me hard too, simply because Lin shows that in these fighting men there is some humanity, not just cold faceless killers. It's a really strong emotive section. I remember that when Lin comes-to somewhere back in pakistan, he recalls how many good men died while he survived.

Andy

[Infernal Lubber]

You know, I feel when reading some of these quotes the same nagging  impression I had when reading them in the book for the first (and second) time. Roberts is groping for kernels of truth, (or perhaps just trying to sound profound?), but not quite hitting the nail on the head. That is uncharitable of me, perhaps, and of course I'm not saying I could do better. But it just seems he's trying too hard  to be lyrical, or something, sometimes at the expense of clarity.

Well, after all, he is big on the emotional aspects of life, and expressing them accurately is not an easy job.

In the quote above, Roberts talks about what is important to men in the end, when they know they are dying. On the one hand, it's the love of a woman. That's a no-brainer, really. On the other, it's the land. Or is it a city? I see those as two distinct things. A person's love for the land and love for a city are not the same, in my mind. But what the dying man really is getting at, I think, in talking about a 'place' is not really a place, but the concept of 'home'. Home as a place of comfort and happiness. The place, in fact, where the woman (and others) who loves him resides. So to me, home is at the heart of it, and the 'woman' is just a part of that.

[mev]

Thankyou =]

Yeah I definitley agree about this being a strong emotive section of the book, the quote I gave really struck me, its very powerful.

Infernal Lubber - Its a good point you make about the distinction between 'land' and a 'city' but I think that the passage is still quite clear in the point it is making - In the end all men are equal, no 'cause' divides them... They leave the world thinking of 'a woman, and a city'. I think I just admire the way Roberts has picked up on this and expressed the emotion so well...

Mev

[rashmichand]

[in the beginning we feared everything- animals, the weather, the trees, the night sky- everything except each other. Now we fear each other & almost nothing else.]

[Andy]

 Thanks for adding the quote Rashmi

All these quotes will be making their way into the new version of the site I am releasing soon - it's been a long time coming, but adding quotes like these will be much easier when that goes live 

[meenaxi]

hey , i loved the quote which went "Happiness is an illusion , which makes us buy new things " . It somehow struck a chord  , bout how we always try to find things that make us happy . lol i related to it personally cause I feel particulary gratified if i go buy something even if it is a shiny new pencil or a new book Im sure there are better quotes !! have to give the book a second read and jot them down!!

[Andy]

Hey Meena, welcome

I can't say that one hit me before, but it's a good one. There are so many nuggets of wisdom in Shantaram anyway!

I think we all like shiny new things, and in part we do get a little happiness out of each thing

[meenaxi]

after leaving the sea, afterall those millions of years of living inside of the sea, we took the ocean with us. When a woman makes a baby, she gives it water, inside her body, to grow in.That water inside her body is almost exactly the same as the water of the sea.It is salty, by just the same amount. She makes a little ocean, in her body.And not only this. Our blood and our sweating, they are both salty, almost exactly like the water from the sea is salty. We carry oceans inside of us, in our blood and our sweat. And we are crying the oceans, in our tears

I just found the idea so different and quite surprising . Its something so in your face and  simple but iv never thought of it that way . I think the way it is phrased is lovely 

[Andy]

Hmm.. Good one Meena. That's not one I had remembered all that well. If i'm not mistaken, isn't it Prabaker speaking?

[sammy]

"The contours of a man's virtues, are shaped by adversity"

not sure if thats exactly it..

 Basically people who have struggled in life, whatever their individual adversities are, can rest assure that virtue can be found in overcoming them.
 

[Andy]

I love how when people post here they bring out interesting quotes one hasn't recalled before.    Everyone has a different thread which resonates with them, and that's cool.

By the way, I'm curious if you'd remember if it was the narrator who 'said' that or if it was Khader? Sounds like something me might say?


Anyway thanks for posting it! ...and welcome to the forum too

[sammy]

its good old Greg himself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGL5eTU5DXA, in this vid.

Im believe it was Lin who stated that in the book.

Thanks for the welcome! good to be here..