The novel describes a number of foreigners of various origins, as well as local Indians, highlighting the rich diversity of life in Mumbai.

He also witnesses and battles outbreaks of cholera and firestorms, becomes involved in trading with the lepers, and experiences how ethnic and marital conflicts are resolved in this densely crowded and diverse community. He learns about the local culture and customs in this cramped environment, gets to know and love the people he encounters, and even becomes fluent in Marathi, the local language. After a massive fire on the day of his arrival in the slum, he sets up a free health clinic as a way to contribute to the community. With all his possessions gone, Lin is forced to live in the slums, which shelters him from the authorities. On their way back to Mumbai, Lin and Prabhakar are robbed. Because she judged his nature to be blessed with peaceful happiness, she decided to call him Shantaram, meaning Man of God's Peace. Both men visit Prabhakar's native village, Sunder, where Prabhakar's mother decided to give Lin a new Maharashtrian name, like her own. Prabhakar soon becomes his friend and names him Lin (Linbaba). Lindsay soon meets a local man named Prabhakar whom he hires as a guide. Mumbai was supposed to be only a stopover on a journey that was to take him from New Zealand to Germany, but he decides to stay in the city. The protagonist Lindsay (according to the book, Roberts' fake name) arrives in Bombay carrying a false passport in the name of Lindsay Ford. In July 1980, he escaped from Victoria's Pentridge Prison in broad daylight, thereby becoming one of Australia's most wanted men for the next ten years. In 1978, Roberts was sentenced to a 19-year imprisonment in Australia after being convicted of a series of armed robberies of building society branches, credit unions, and shops. The novel is reportedly influenced by real events in the life of the author, though some claims made by Roberts are contested by others involved in the story. The novel is commended by many for its vivid portrayal of life in Bombay in the early to late 1980s. Shantaram is a 2003 novel by Gregory David Roberts, in which a convicted Australian bank robber and heroin addict escapes from Pentridge Prison and flees to India.

Shantaram book review