How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"Go with him, Lin," he said. "Go with Prabaker, to the village. Every city in the world has a village in its heart. You will never understand the city, unless you first understand the village. Go there. When you return, I will see what India has made of you. Bonne chance!" (1.4.131)
Didier's theory, that every city has a village inside, is related to Karla's wish for the authentic India, above. It's the idea that there's a true India, one that can't be found in Bombay, but rather must be discovered where tourists don't go. That idea of the traveler or exile being the one with access to the true country pervades Shantaram.
Quote #8
"No, Lin! This is India. Nobody can take his clothes off, not even to wash his bodies. This is India. Nobody is ever naked in India. And especially, nobody is naked without clothes." (1.5.257)
Now there's a head scratcher—being naked with your clothes on? Lin is providing a cultural vision of India, describing a practice, but this scene could also be taken as a metaphor for his experience of the country. He is always trying to get at the heart of the matter, to the truth, but there is always another layer to peel off.
Quote #9
I lay back on the bed, in the dark, listening to the sounds of the street that rose to my open window: the paanwalla, calling customers to the delights of his aromatic morsels; the watermelon man, piercing the warm, humid night with his plangent cry; a street acrobat, shouting through his sweaty exertions for a crowd of tourists; and music, always music. Did ever a people love music, I wondered, more than the Indians? (1.7.57)
We really dig the way that Shantaram doesn't only use sight to create images of India, but brings in all five senses to try to recreate the experience of being there. This sound painting, like the scent one above, brings in the chaos, so many different elements, that combine to make a particular, unique place.