Prabakar

I’m currently reading a book about someone who escapes from jail in New Zealand, moves to India, spends time working for the Indian mafia, then opens free medical clinics for slum dwellers and becomes a writer.

The point is, I just read an amazing dialogue, which struck amazingly close to home regarding how things feel around here sometimes. The man is traveling with his Indian guide of 3 months turned great friend into the Indian country side; this dialogue takes place between two Indians during the trip.

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‘What’s he doing here?’

‘He’s visiting my family.’

‘Where’s he from.’

‘New Zealand,’ Prabaker replied

‘New Zealand?’

‘Yes. New Zealand. In Europe.’

‘Plenty of money in New Zealand?’

‘Yes, yes. Plenty. They’re all rich, white people there.’

‘Does he speak Marathi?’

‘No.’

‘Hindi?’

‘No. Only English.’

‘Only English?’

‘Yes.’

‘Why?’

‘They don’t speak Hindi in his country.’

‘They don’t speak Hindi there?’

‘No.’

‘No Marathi, no Hindi?’

‘No. only English.’

‘Holy father! The poor fool!’

‘Yes.’

‘How old is he?’

‘Thirty.’

‘He looks older.’

‘They all do. All Europeans look older and angrier than they really are. It’s a white thing.’

‘Is he married?’

‘No.’

‘Not married? Thirty, and not married? What’s wrong with him?’

‘He’s European. A lot of them get married only when they’re old.’

‘That’s crazy.’

‘Yes.’

‘What job does he do?’

‘He’s a teacher.’

‘A teacher is good.’

‘Yes.’

‘Does he have a mother and father?’

‘Yes.’

‘Where are they?’

‘In his native place. New Zealand.’

‘Why isn’t he with them?’

‘He’s travelling. He’s looking at the whole world.’

‘Why?’

‘Europeans do that a lot. They work for a while, and then they travel around, lonely, for a while, with no family, until they get old, and then they get married, and become very serious.’

‘That’s crazy.’

‘Yes.’

‘He must be lonely, without his mummy and daddy, and with no wife and children.’

‘Yes. But the Europeans don’t mind. They get a lot of practice being lonely.’

‘He has a big strong body.’

‘Yes.’

‘A very strong body.’

‘Yes.’

‘Make sure you feed him properly, and give him plenty of milk.’

‘Yes.’

‘Buffalo milk.’

‘Yes, yes.’

‘And make sure he doesn’t learn any bad words. Don’t teach him any swearing. There are plenty of arseholes and bastards around who will teach him the wrong sisterf**king words. Keep him away from mother f**kers like that.’

‘I will.’

‘And don’t let anyone take advantage of him. He doesn’t look too bright. Keep an eye on him.’

‘He’s brighter than he looks, but yes, I will look after him.’

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Among the above truths, and I’m pretty sure there are a few of them, I do feel looked after here in Bulgaria.

The book is called Shantaram, by Gregory David Roberts. Here are the amazon book reviews, here is the webpage for the author + book.