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Waking up with Gregory David (Shantaram) Roberts

For ex-fugitive, Mumbai lover and author of Shantaram Sundays are like all his other days: gregarious and action-packed, writes Malavika Sangghvi

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Each week, Malavika Sangghvi gives the lowdown and high points of Sunday

For ex-fugitive, one-time heroin addict, motorcycle freak, Mumbai lover and author of Shantaram, Gregory David Roberts, Sundays are like all his other days: gregarious and action-packed.

He wakes up around 8 am at his Kala Ghoda flat, does 250 push ups and works out with dumb bells and a bench press, after clocking in as little as three hours sleep on an average per night.

Then he makes himself a breakfast (“I mix corn flakes, wheat flakes, almond flakes — and then have an instant coffee.”) Then he gets on to his internet, attending to the 600-700 mails he receives each week, from family, friends and fans — some from as far away as Iceland! This takes him an hour or two, after which he calls his parents in Melbourne (“I do that twice a day to talk to my mother”).

After that he says his day is up for grabs, divided  between the charitable work that he is committed to,  his  creative projects and his writing.

Those familiar with his book will know that unlike most other authors, the story has not stopped once the book ends. Shantaram has lived every word he’s written, and his life is inextricably linked with those of the characters who people his book.

So,  currently he says, his charitable work is divided in to three arms: the first is the on-going life-long project he’s undertaken to build pucca housing for the elderly parents of a late friend in a nearby village. After which he’ll build a school and a clinic.

He does not want to go in to any details about this project, he says, to protect it from any adverse attention. He is aware that readers of his book have been inspired to fly down to India and “do the Shantaram tour”.

I know that this means money for the village, but what if someone abuses the villager’s trust?  I cannot take that risk” he says, hence the secrecy.

The second project in his charitable arm is a mobile clinic set up for the poorest of the poor, Mumbai’s footpath dwellers, which he says is being finalised soon. And the third is a foray in to micro-financing which involves “ setting up really small businesses like barber shops,  bicycle repair shops and a customised bike-making  unit, which could employ people, and generate a percentage to farm back in to future such projects.”

These activities involve meetings, and for these, since he does not have an office yet, Gregory makes use of a clutter of small tea shops and coffee bars across Colaba and Fort area to conduct his meetings.

“If I am meeting a footpath dweller, then he is obviously going to feel ill at ease at the Indigo Deli,” he smiles, “but he will be perfectly comfortable at Madras Cafe near Colaba Market or Saurabh in the Fort area,” he says, adding “You must try the gadbad at Saurabh! Made with ice -cream, jelly, nuts  and dates — it’s the best in town.”

For his on going creative projects which currently involve producing a documentary on Mumbai, flying a London-based photographer Wendy Joy Morrissey to the city to set her creative juices free on the metropolis and hosting a Japanese artist Katsuya in India in December, he can be found at Mondegar or Leopold’s — his happy hunting grounds.

His creative collaborations he says stem from his basic life philosophy of promoting positive activities that have to do with ‘cooperation, creativity, life,  love,  pyar mohabbat…’

“Each of us must establish positive feedback loops that connect with and promote positivity and creativity. For me it is incumbent to collaborate with and encourage creative people” he says somewhat enigmatically.

Gregory’s  evenings are usually spent socialising, for he is a popular amongst  Mumbai’s well-heeled set who are, charmed by his street smart ways, or watching movies or  trying to catch up on his voracious reading habits; currently he is reading five books:  Conrad’s ‘Lord Jim’, Rushdie’s ‘Shalimar the Clown,’  Philip Paul’s ‘The Critical Mass,’ the poems of Anna Akhmatova and Eliot’s ‘Silas Mariner’.

Through all this he is also working on three books:  an anthology of love poems, a novel based on the poems, and the sequel to Shantaram.

Is it any wonder then that for this best-selling author of the cult classic, Shantaram that Mumbai is his Maximum City? 

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