Shanatarm is an epic novel set in 1980s Mumbai, written by Gregory David Roberts. At 936 pages, it is one of the longest books I’ve ever read. But for this particular book, I have found that every page has been worth it – this saga about love, life, and death has been one of the most enriching reading experiences for me.

Although this book follows the journey of one man (the author himself), it is actually about everything. Dealing with topics such as existentialism, the origins of the universe, the nature of good and evil, this book gets into your head and teaches you more than you will in any classroom. Part of the reason is the rich repository of experience the author has utilized to its maximum.

Gregory David Roberts was an armed robber and heroin addict, who was then thrown into a maximum-security prison. He escaped from there to Mumbai, and lived in the slums – where he established a free health clinic for the poor. He fell in love, got tortured in an Indian prison, and joined the Bombay mafia, working as a money launderer, forger, and street soldier. That’s not it – he also learnt Hindi and Marathi, two completely alien languages to him, acted in Bollywood, and fought with the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan. He touches upon each and every experience in his wonderful book.

Shantaram paints such a realistic picture of Mumbai that you can’t help but believe it. The characters are well-written (you can’t help but fall in love with Prabhakar and Didier, who provide necessary comic intrusions in the book), and the setting have been described in rich detail, be it the rat-ridden slums or Madame Zhou’s palace.

If you ever get the time and decide to tackle a huge book – Shantaram is what you should read.