I applaud when his contribution to intellectual life is recognized as it has been by the British Government in deciding on a knighthood for him.
My rationale?
Let me begin with the author. Rushdie brought magic realism into the mainstream as he did Indo-Anglian writing, setting the stage (and a market) for the likes of Arundhati Roy and Kiran Desai, who succeeded him as Indian (or at least Indian-born) Booker Prize winners.
He started all that off with the magnificent Midnight's Children. Of course, his first book was the neglected work of fantasy/science fiction Grimus, but Midnight's Children was the one that got him noticed. He's written many books since then, mostly amazing literature. Among them are Shame, Haroun And The Sea Of Stories. He's also written a couple of awful books. Fury comes to mind as well The Ground Beneath her Feet, the only work by him I started and couldn't finish (actually I couldn't get beyond the first 100 pages).
The book the garnered him more attention than Midnight's Children, if that was possible, was the Satanic Verses. In February 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini, the then spiritual leader of Iran, announced a fatwa for his execution for blasphemy. He remained a marked man for many years, hidden away under a security cover in England. He then moved to New York, where he has lived, more or less, a normal life or as normal as a man like Salman Rushdie has.
Now, of course, the Iranians are angered that he is being knighted by the British. There's now a bounty on his head.
Which brings me to the reason why I admire him as a person. Because despite the threat to his life that he has faced, he has remained candid in his views on radical Islam, especially his open dislike for fundamentalist interpretation of the religion. He's also candid about being a devout atheist.
That's not all he's candid about. He's frank about where the Indian Government has gone wrong on Kashmir. His latest book Shalimar The Clown indicates his views on that issue. He has strong views since he is a Kashmiri. He's candid about disliking Indira Gandhi. In fact, he's an interviewer's delight because unlike most other "intellectuals", he does not waffle or take refuge in vague political correctness. He speaks his mind. And he does so without malice but a wicked sense of humour.
I say this because I have interacted with him a few times and he's said exactly the right thing, as far as the requirements of a journalist go though they may have been exactly the wrong thing to say.
Now, the question is how will the Indian Government react to the honour being bestowed upon him in the United Kingdom. Will it do the logical thing and be generous in its praise of an author who has put India on the literary map of the world? Make no mistake, Rushdie may be a British citizen living in New York, but his work is suffused with India. And he still considers himself very much the Indian.
Or will the Indian Government react as it did after the initial furor over the Satanic Verses broke out? By listening to extremists, and taking the line as they did in banning that book.
That response will come in the days ahead of us and will determine whether India is driven by petty political agenda or a secular broadmindedness.first published:June 20, 2007, 11:40 ISTlast updated:June 20, 2007, 11:40 IST
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I should begin this with a disclaimer: I'm a huge fan both of Salman Rushdie the author and Salman Rushdie the person.
I applaud when his contribution to intellectual life is recognized as it has been by the British Government in deciding on a knighthood for him.
My rationale?
Let me begin with the author. Rushdie brought magic realism into the mainstream as he did Indo-Anglian writing, setting the stage (and a market) for the likes of Arundhati Roy and Kiran Desai, who succeeded him as Indian (or at least Indian-born) Booker Prize winners.
He started all that off with the magnificent Midnight's Children. Of course, his first book was the neglected work of fantasy/science fiction Grimus, but Midnight's Children was the one that got him noticed. He's written many books since then, mostly amazing literature. Among them are Shame, Haroun And The Sea Of Stories. He's also written a couple of awful books. Fury comes to mind as well The Ground Beneath her Feet, the only work by him I started and couldn't finish (actually I couldn't get beyond the first 100 pages).
The book the garnered him more attention than Midnight's Children, if that was possible, was the Satanic Verses. In February 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini, the then spiritual leader of Iran, announced a fatwa for his execution for blasphemy. He remained a marked man for many years, hidden away under a security cover in England. He then moved to New York, where he has lived, more or less, a normal life or as normal as a man like Salman Rushdie has.
Now, of course, the Iranians are angered that he is being knighted by the British. There's now a bounty on his head.
Which brings me to the reason why I admire him as a person. Because despite the threat to his life that he has faced, he has remained candid in his views on radical Islam, especially his open dislike for fundamentalist interpretation of the religion. He's also candid about being a devout atheist.
That's not all he's candid about. He's frank about where the Indian Government has gone wrong on Kashmir. His latest book Shalimar The Clown indicates his views on that issue. He has strong views since he is a Kashmiri. He's candid about disliking Indira Gandhi. In fact, he's an interviewer's delight because unlike most other "intellectuals", he does not waffle or take refuge in vague political correctness. He speaks his mind. And he does so without malice but a wicked sense of humour.
I say this because I have interacted with him a few times and he's said exactly the right thing, as far as the requirements of a journalist go though they may have been exactly the wrong thing to say.
Now, the question is how will the Indian Government react to the honour being bestowed upon him in the United Kingdom. Will it do the logical thing and be generous in its praise of an author who has put India on the literary map of the world? Make no mistake, Rushdie may be a British citizen living in New York, but his work is suffused with India. And he still considers himself very much the Indian.
Or will the Indian Government react as it did after the initial furor over the Satanic Verses broke out? By listening to extremists, and taking the line as they did in banning that book.
That response will come in the days ahead of us and will determine whether India is driven by petty political agenda or a secular broadmindedness.
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