项塔兰

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  Shantaram,在印地语中意为“和平之人”。这是作者格里高利·大卫·罗伯兹(Gregory David Roberts)从一位乡下老嬷嬷口中得到的名字,可格里高利的大半人生履历似乎与“和平”都沾不上边。学生时代他是激进的运动分子;25岁婚姻破裂他开始与海洛因相伴,毒瘾致使他拿着仿造手枪去抢劫银行,最终24次的抢劫记录换来19年徒刑;两年半后,他居然逃出戒备森严的重刑监狱,随后流亡印度。八年的流亡岁月里,他住过贫民窟并在那当起免费的医生,他被吸收进黑帮打理各种“买卖”,他甚至加入了宝莱坞电影圈、穆斯林游击队……1991年格里高利在德国被捕入狱,1997年获释出狱后他将自己这段真实的经历写成了《项塔兰》。
  本期内容节选自小说的第一部分,讲述的是化名为“林”的主人公来到孟买贫民窟居住的第一天就碰上一场大火,帮忙灭火拿药救人,林就这么成了贫民窟里的第一位医生。
  2003年小说出版不久后,华纳那俩兄弟就夺得了它的电影改编权,并确定由作者本人协助电影剧本改写,约翰尼·德普出任主演。本身就狂迷原著小说的普叔还亲自揽下制片人的活,可如今2012也被咱们摆平了,《项塔兰》还没来,那还是乖乖来看书吧!
  People came out of their huts to stand in every doorway. Dozens, and eventually hundreds, of people crowded into the side-lanes and the occasional gaps between the houses. They were all staring at me with such gravity, such a fixity of frowning intensity, that I felt sure they must bear me enormous ill-will. I was wrong, of course. I couldn’t know then, on my first day, that the people were simply staring at my fear. They were trying to understand what demons haunted my mind, causing me to dread so terribly the place they knew to be a sanctuary from fates far worse than slum life.
  And the fact was that for all my fear of its swarm and 1)squalor, I did know a fate far worse than slum life. It was a fate so bad that I’d climbed a prison wall and given up everything that I knew, everything I was, everything I loved, to escape it.
  “This is now your house, Lin,” Prabaker proudly announced over the giggling and chatter of the children when we reached the hut. “Go inside. See all for yourself.”
  The hut was identical to the others around it. The roof was a sheet of black plastic. The frame was made from thin bamboo poles bound together with coconut-fibre 2)twine. The walls were made from hand-woven reed matting. The floor was bare earth, pressed flat and smooth by the feet of the hut’s previous tenants. The door was a thin piece of 3)plywood dangling on rope hinges. The plastic ceiling was so low that I had to stoop, and the whole room was about four paces long by two paces wide. It was almost exactly the same size as a prison cell.
  每间小屋都有人出来,站在门口。先是几十人,最后是数百人,挤进窄巷和小屋与小屋间偶尔一见的间隙。他们全都紧锁眉头、神情严肃地盯着我,让我觉得他们一定对我怀有敌意。结果,我当然错了。直到后来,我才知道那天他们只是在盯着我的恐惧。他们想弄清楚我是给什么恶魔附了身,竟会怕这地方怕成那个样子。在他们眼中,这里是安稳的栖身之地,他们从此不会再受到比住在贫民窟还更悲惨的不幸。
  我的害怕全来自这里的拥挤和脏乱,但我的确知道有种不幸,比住在贫民窟更加可怕。那至大的不幸,就是要让我翻越牢墙,抛下我所熟悉的一切、我的身份、我所爱的人和事物我也在所不惜,我要逃离它。
  “这就是你的家了,林。”我们抵达那简陋小屋时,在众多小孩的咯咯笑声和叽叽喳喳声中,普拉巴克大声得意地宣布。“进去,自己瞧瞧。”
  我的小屋与周边其他小屋一模一样。屋顶是一块黑色塑料板,整个屋子的支架是用椰子纤维绳将细竹竿捆绑搭成的。墙是手编的芦苇席,地板是原有的泥土地,经前几任住户的踩踏,压得很平滑。门是薄薄一张胶合板,悬挂在椰子绳做的铰链上。塑料天花板很低,我必须弯腰站立。整个房间约四步长,两步宽,大小几乎和一间囚室一样。
  “你知道吗,”阿南德说这话时的语气温和、轻松,让我有些吃惊,“我想,有地方失火了。”
  他正使劲踮起脚尖,一只手挡在眼睛上方,遮住午后的阳光,朝一座座黑色沙丘般的小屋后方望去。众人往他瞧的方向看去,潮湿的静默中带着不详。接着,数百米外,一股绚丽的橘色火焰冲天而起,而后传来爆炸声,像是猎枪子弹射进金属棚的声音。每个男人都在狂奔,朝远方冒出黄色火焰的方向跑去。
  我震惊、害怕,但不慌张,看着那势不可挡的大火逐步逼近,心知这场火是灭不了了。我冲进小屋,抓起背包和个人物品,匆忙冲向门口。刚到门口,背包掉了,我弯身捡拾掉到地下的衣服和其他物品。这当口,我抬头看到二十个或更多的妇女、小孩,成群站着看我。那一瞬间,一场无言但心有灵犀的交谈正在进行,我完全清楚他们在想什么。我们隔着空地互望,我听到他们脑子里的想法。
  看那个又高又壮的外国人,我们的男人跑去灭火,他却只顾着逃命……
  我羞愧至极,把捡起的东西塞进背包,将它放在刚认识的邻居女人拉德哈的脚边,然后转身向大火奔去。
  这样一来,我在贫民窟的角色就这么敲定了。记得刚认识卡拉时,有次聊天她说过,如果命运没让你大笑,那是因为你根本没弄懂那笑话。年少时,我受过正规的急救训练,涵盖割伤、烧伤、扭伤、骨折,还有各种诊断方法和紧急处理方法。后来,我运用之前学过的心肺复苏术,将吸毒过量的瘾君子拉出鬼门关,救了他们的命,得到了“医生”这个外号。有几百个人知道我是个医生,但并不认识我。在我入住贫民窟的好几个月前,我新西兰的朋友在一个早上送了那个急救箱给我当临别赠礼。我肯定,这种种人生际遇——受训、绰号、急救箱、在贫民窟当赤脚医生——串连在一块,绝非只是偶然或巧合。
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