Shantaram

One week later, Abdullah brings medical and surgical supplies to the slum. He asks Lin about the patients and how he makes money from them. Afterward, Johnny pulls Lin aside and begs him not to work with Abdullah. Abdullah and Lin go to the Bhatia hospital together, where they meet Doctor Hamid. Lin says he doesn’t know enough medicine to help all the people. When Lin sends them to the St. George hospital, they are sent back without being seen since they are from the slums.

Hamid, after speaking with Khan, wants Lin to refer patients to him. He will send them on to St. George’s when necessary. Lin admires Hamid, who could make more money elsewhere as a doctor. Abdullah tells him that Hamid lived in a slum. Next, he and Abdullah go to the medicine black market in a slum populated by people with leprosy. Society shuns people with leprosy, who must live in movable slums. A man named Ranjit greets Abdullah. Ranjit is missing most of his jaw and is hard to understand, but a child repeats his words clearly for Lin. Ranjit says they will have medicine—which they steal—for Lin every week. They survive by selling the drugs and supplies they steal.

Ranjit then orders everyone to touch Lin’s feet. An hour later, when they park the motorcycle, Abdullah hugs Lin. Lin explains the concept of a bear hug, which makes Abdullah laugh. When he is alone, Lin cries in his hut. Even though he does not believe in God, he feels that he can’t love or forgive God.

Prabu tells Lin that Abdullah kills for money. Lin knows that he and Abdullah are similar, even though he has never killed. He reassures Prabu that nothing will happen.

Over the next few days, Lin helps Italian tourists buy drugs to sell at parties, which gives him money for weeks. Prabu and Johnny lead teams for monsoon preparation and direct children to steal supplies that can be used for weatherproofing. Everyone who helps is loved and accepted.

Qasim’s eldest son, Iqbal, returns after six months working in Kuwait. His return speech is interrupted by a fight between Faroukh and Raghuram, two young men from Prabu’s rebuilding team. The details of their argument are trivial. Qasim shouts that there is never a good reason for them to fight each other. They live together as the poor, and together they are hurting everyone and have shamed Qasim. As punishment, he binds them together with his scarf as they clean the latrines.

One day, a man named Joseph viciously beats his wife in public. Given the close quarters, people are reluctant to interfere. Qasim tells Johnny to make Joseph stop. The wife, Maria, leaves her hut naked, covered in welts. Prabu grabs Joseph when he follows her with the stick. For 20 minutes, Qasim makes Joseph drink an alcohol called daru and smoke chillum until he passes out. Qasim then forces him awake and makes him drink another bottle of daru, but without water. Joseph faints after a third of the bottle.

Qasim wakes him and tells Johnny to beat him with the stick. Veejay and Jeetendra take turns beating him as Joseph begs for water. They wake him two hours later and give him more daru. They all hit him before he can drink. Joseph’s relatives and friends arrive to participate, but Qasim moderates the severity of the punishment.

Finally, Qasim has the men who beat Joseph wash him as he sobs his wife’s name. The women have decided that Joseph will not see Maria for two months, during which he will work long days and drink only water. If she accepts him afterward, he will use the money he saves during her absence to give her a mountain vacation.

Over five months, Lin occasionally runs into Didier and Vikram. He sees Karla but doesn’t speak to her. One day, he hears barking, shouts, and screams. A bear is outside his door, but somehow he knows the bear won’t hurt him. It wears a spiked collar with two chains. One of its handlers gives a message to Lin and says he owes them a promise for the message. To receive the message, Lin must hug the bear, whose name is Kano. Lin hugs the bear and enjoys feeling powerless. It makes him feel peaceful, and he realizes he is kneeling. The message is from Abdullah. He sent Lin a bear hug as a joke and says he will return to Mumbai soon. Prabu reminds Lin that Abdullah is bad.

Groups of traveling entertainers use the slums to shelter from the coming rain. They have snakes, monkeys, and birds. The monkeys release the cobras one night. They are also trained as thieves. Overall, the extra 5,000 people are welcomed. However, they spend more money in the slum than outside of it, which the merchants resent. Gangs attack the lines to the slum’s supply shops, and Lin treats the wounded. Qasim sets up children as sentries to spot the gangs.

Karla visits unexpectedly and says that poverty suits Lin. When she looks at his hut, Lin is aware of how meager it is, which almost angers him. However, Karla isn’t judging. When she invites him to lunch, Lin says they’re having a lunch celebration at the “Village in the Sky” that she should attend. She kisses Lin.

They have lunch on the 23rd floor of the World Trade Center construction site. Karla is surprised by how many people Lin knows and at how much they like him, although has never considered whether he is liked. They are there to celebrate a temporary slum school, which they will demolish when the towers are finished in a few years.

They notice that the word “SAPNA” is painted on a wall. Johnny says it’s the name of a thief and killer. Sapna means “dream” and is a common girl’s name. Sapna claims that he kills the rich to help the poor. There are many rumors and legends about him but few facts.

Karla asks Lin for help with a friend named Lisa. Lisa is being held captive by the boss of a brothel, a sadistic woman named Madame Zhou. Karla wants Lin to pretend to be from the American embassy to arrange Lisa’s release without repercussions. She believes Zhou will relent if she thinks she faces government pressure.

Prabu announces that the Bombay Municipal Corporation is coming. They tear down some houses each month to slow the spread of the construction site’s slum. Sixty houses vanish in less than 20 minutes.

Lin says he’s in love with Karla, and she protests. She doesn’t want to be in love, or to be loved, but he can’t change his feelings. She says she likes him and hopes that it will be enough.