This week, Lee Miller examines the downfall of Three Cups of Tea author Greg Mortenson through the tales of another egomaniacal hustler: Gregory David Roberts. READ MORE
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On April 17, CBS’ 60 Minutes ran a blistering exposé of Greg Mortenson’s book, Three Cups of Tea, and its correspondingcharity the Central Asia Institute. (Scroll down to watch the exposé.)
A thorough investigation found that more thanone of Mortenson’s inspirational tales about building schools in Afghanistanand Pakistan, primarily to educate girls, were exaggerations or outrightfabrication.
Over 4 million readers purchased Three Cups of Tea and countlesscharitable souls (including many children in the Pennies for Peace program)contributed millions toward Mortenson’s cause, which unfortunately was moregraft than humanitarianism.
The 1,000-page novel Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts provides an eerily similar ego trip. Both books are written by the slyest ofwhite male hustlers, seducers who take advantage of their reader’s quest tofind a beautiful spirit in the world.
The seduction of Shantaram begins with the back cover biography of Gregory DavidRoberts: “Sentenced to nineteen years in prison for a series of armedrobberies, he escaped and spent ten of his fugitive years in Bombay--where heestablished a free medical clinic for slum-dwellers, and worked as acounterfeiter, smuggler, gunrunner, and street soldier for the Bombay mafia.”
This enticing resume forms the fictional plotof Shantaram, yet Roberts’ truecharacter is revealed between the lines. The author’s photograph on the backcover gives a hint of what the text subtly exposes: Roberts gazes with eyes like a Rasputin-inspired hypnotist.
The events of Shantaram took place in the 1980s; the book was crafted in the 1990s(when Roberts was arrested and returned to jail) and published in the 2000s. Roberts’writes very well, with a great pace to his story, a lightning read for a thicktome.
The city of Mumbai is the star of the book. Thecharacters, neighborhoods, and motivations that surround the central fugitive character,Lin (aka David Roberts), are drawn with insight and genuine detail.
As honestly as Lin narrates the life aroundhim, he is doubly dishonest about his own persona. The subtlest of spintransforms Lin from a selfish drug user/dealer, armed robber, bully, hustlerand materialist, into the perception of a sensitive humanitarian, all under thebanner of “fiction.” This is the most insidiousform of egomania.
Propaganda of David Gregory Roberts is theonly fiction of the story.
The title of “Shantaram,” or “blessed man ofpeace,” is bestowed upon Lin during a long visit to his close friend Probaker’sMaharashtrian village. In the prisons of Australia and India, Lin stabs men andbrutally beats them, yet they never die. Lin’s Mumbai mafia cohorts kill peoplefrequently in the name of business and honor, yet Lin is mysteriously exemptfrom any murders. When Lin joins the holy war in Afghanistan, he never mentionsthat he is fighting for the Taliban. Like Greg Mortenson’s myths of Afghanvillage convalescence and Taliban abduction, something does not add up amidstthe flow of euphemism.
Lin seemingly develops a very close friendshipwith a man named Probaker while visiting his village, working as apseudo-doctor in the Mumbai slum, and exploring the city together. Yet Linsuddenly drops Probaker’s friendship and an ascetic life for the “honor” andmoney of the mafia, although he repeatedly repudiates any materialist desires. Lincites Arthur Road prison trauma rather than pure selfishness for the change ofheart. When the abandoned Probaker later dies from car accident injuries, Lin is cocky enough to blame himself,assert God-like control of fate: “If I had not given him the gift of a taxi, hemight still be alive.”
Throughout the tale, Lin repeatedly refusesprostitution. Yet the central female characters, Karla and Lisa--young, vivacious,adventurous, deeply admiring of Lin--are drawn one-dimensionally, in sexualterms. Like all Don Juans, Lin’s ego demands conquest in physical terms,overshadowing Karla and Lisa’s humanity.
Like Mortenson, Roberts lathers his own attractiveness with moreexaggerations: Lin saves the lives of numerousheroin addicts; Lin solves all acquaintances’ problems in the expatriate barand the Mumbai slum; Lin smuggles a bear out of the shantytown; Lin neverfails.
But even Roberts’ real-life prison sentencedoes not add up honorably: He was sentenced for nineteen years for armedrobbery in Australia and served two. He was arrested again for drug smugglingin Germany, negotiated extradition to Australia, and only served six more years.He is now a free man living in Malibu, California, thanks to Johnny Depp’s twomillion dollar movie option for Shantaram.
At every step of life and written page, Roberts’hustle is on. Enjoy the Mumbai insight of Shantaram,yet beware of the insidious seduction.
Lee Miller is the author of the Bengali novel, Kali Sunset(www.clovercreekpress.com).
WATCH the 60 Minutes exposé of Greg Mortenson and Three Cups of Tea:
