Unconventional

There are some lines which stick with you. You hear them once or you read them once and they have such an everlasting impact on you, you don’t tend to forget it ever. I came across one such line while reading Shantaram and it just stuck on to me.

Well, in case you haven’t heard about Shantaram, it’s a story of a Australian guy who ran into exile in India. The story revolves around how a foreigner landed in Bombay to call it home. The protagonist lived and breathed India, learnt the language, the culture, in Bombay’s slum.

While there are many incredible scenes and dialogues worth mentioning, however I am sticking on to a particular scene wherein the protagonist is invited by a Bombay mafia. There are almost a dozen criminals along with the protagonist discussing about some killings in the city and then the subject drifted to some philosophical talks. The panel formed of young and old, local and foreign guys from Palestine and some other countries. While the debate is quite intriguing in itself pertaining to the myriad experience of people from diverse sections of the society. The panellists gave sharp insights to a philosophical matter while some gave it a religious view.

However, the protagonist seems to be most impressed by the Mafia who had invited him. It’s not just the views which he presented on the said subject but he is quite enthralled by the overall personality of the mafia. He mentioned of how he admire him and how he look up to him as a fatherly figure. He expressed how he had not just developed a liking for him but also there is a bonding of love and respect.

While going through the protagonist’s admiration for the mafia, you just began to paint a beautiful picture of him in your mind. The mafia guy looks like an intelligent and smart guy who had seen enough of life. His balanced expressions, the vigour in his voice reflects the mountains of troubles he’d walked past in his life.

And then the protagonist is heard asking himself ‘I've asked myself a thousand times, through the years, if I would've loved him so swiftly and so well if he'd been powerless and poor.’

Now, these lines are much more then brilliant. The lines are so true and so deep, ironical. It reflects how a liking or love or admiration is influenced by the power and money. Had the same person said the same words of wisdom minus the power and money, the words would have meant almost nothing. Probably the guy would have been taunted for being a bit too mad, and not understanding a bit of what he is talking about. He would have been disapproved for being a loser himself and inappropriate for spreading such ‘Gyan’.

That reminded me of how one of the most famous and admired and loved singer turned into a street beggar and how he, despite being the same person and the same voice, went unnoticed. The same guy who could stage shows worth millions of rupees could only make handful of rupees.

While the hard work and the perseverance and ‘Never Give-up’ attitude and all those traits which makes a man succeed can’t be ignored. However the wisdom and struggle of the ones who couldn’t make it to the top can’t be ignored either.