Exclusive: Salman Rushdie on his new book

SAVING GRACE: Rushdie says The Enchantress of Florence helped him to sail through his divorce.

        

J & K | Chhattisgarh | Delhi | MP |
Mizoram | Rajasthan

Featured Blog

Rajdeep Sardesai

26/11: Terror comes precariously close

Featured Slideshows

You actually have a situation in which a country has a government that people genuinely voted for. Eve though the most extraordinary thing the consequence of the death of Benazir had been that these two deadly rivals, Nawaz Sharif and the PPP find themselves getting into bed together, I hope that it lasts. So all of this is to be celebrated.

Fortunately people in India have been able to take democracy for granted with the exception of the couple of years of the 70s of the emergency, for Pakistan it has been a much rarer commodity so I think that it is a good thing. I think that the removal of power from Musharaf is a good thing.

I think the restoration of the position of the deposed justices is an excellent thing. It seems to me that the rule of law is as important in a free society as freedom of expression. Those are the two pillars of any free society so to see the rule of law having an effect in Pakistan is a good thing.

Anirudh Bhattacharyya: Let’s talk about democracy and elections and elections in the United States where you live now. Who are you supporting?

Salman Rushdie: I don’t have a vote. So in that sense I am not supporting anyone because I can’t physically do so. But I have been watching these primaries with incredible fascination. I think that it has been one of the most really, genuinely interesting elections for a long time because I think that there have been on the democrat side. They have genuinely two very strong candidates. If Hillary were chosen I could quite easily support her and likewise Obama.

It wouldn’t be hard to get behind either of them. I took a long time to think about that and if I had a vote then I would probably vote for Obama because I think that he has an extra dimension which is inspirational as his affects on the young people in US has been galvanising and that is good friendly democracy to bring young voters. For me the clincher was the speech he made about race as I thought that it was the most magnificient speech and speech that I have not heard from any politician anywhere in a very long time and at that point I thought that’s the guy I want.

Anirudh Bhattacharyya: Let me ask you a couple of personal questions now because you travel to India and you travel to Mumbai. How would you have seemed to be linked to a new starlet in Mumbai in Bollywood. A lot of names have come out. Is there any truth to that at all?

Salman Rushdie: That is an interesting question. I was in Mumbai and I met all sorts of people and have gotten on very well with them thank you.

Anirudh Bhattacharyya: A personal question and a more serious one. You were separated recently, how difficult was that and what brought about?

Salman Rushdie: It is not that recently but it has been more than a year now. It was awful. It was a very sad event that I did not generate, I did not want it to happen. I tried very hard to prevent it from happening but in the end if people want to go their own way then that’s what they have to do. I am still very sad about.

It was a terrible year for me and I think that in many ways this book saved my life. The thing that I wasn’t able to do I did do and that was to plunge into my work and seek in the works some of the happiness that was available outside. I do think that oddly it is kind of a joyful book.

It is strange to me to read it and find that quality of passion and joy in the book, which was the opposite of how I was feeling though I wasn’t writing a book. As to why it happened I think that is a private thing.

Anirudh Bhattacharyya: Mr Rushdie thank you so much for spending all this time with us today.

Salman Rushdie: Thank you.