- News>
- Newspapers
Rushdie calls Naipaul Nobel fool: The Asian Age
London, Sept 26: In the latest round of the Rushdie-Naipaul verbal duel, the Midnight`s Children author labelled Sir Vidia a Nobel fool.
London, Sept 26: In the latest round of the Rushdie-Naipaul verbal duel, the Midnight’s Children author labelled Sir Vidia a Nobel fool.
At his witty and vitriolic best, the Booker Prize-winner got together with another Indophile, William Dalrymple, to exchange views on a country they both love. "I am waiting for the dual nationality bill, I would quite like my Indian passport back," Rushdie declared.
In reference to Naipaul’s characterisation of Hindu nationalism as a great creative force in India, the India-born author regretted that Sir Vidia’s words were being usurped by fundamentalist elements for their own purposes. "He is not a fanatic, but when a Nobel laureate makes remarks like that they get magnified. Xerox copies of it are being used as a recruiting tool because these become useful words and he becomes a useful Nobel fool," Rushdie said during a Christie’s fundraiser here on Tuesday night.
Organised by Jaisalmer in Jeopardy to raise funds for restoration work in the world’s perfectly fortified city, the event raised an extra £1,020 by auctioning out signed copies of a complete set of the author’s works.
From the chutneyfication of Indian culture to Bollywood, Dalrymple and Rushdie enthralled the gathering, which included erstwhile Indian royals like the Rajmata of Jaipur and the Maharwal of Jaisalmer, with their tales of India.
"The great thing about India is its continual ability to surprise. In the midst of crises across the world where different cultures have decided they cannot live together, India has always managed to resist that force," said Dalrymple, the author of City of Djinns, and most recently The White Mughals.
His view was echoed by Rushdie: "Bollywood is a great example of this harmony. Not only are the three biggest heartthrobs Salman, Aamir and Shah Rukh Muslims, but they often play important Hindu characters, even divine ones. In fact, Hindustani is nothing but Urdu spoken with a Hindi accent."
He declared the recent rise of Hindu fundamentalism a beatable phenomenon and dismissed rewriting of history textbooks as a futile attempt at creating a polarised past. "After the Emergency, it was the common people who threw (former Prime Minister) Mrs Gandhi out and I have great faith in the spirit of India that I grew up in." While Dalrymple’s next work in based on the life of Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, titled The Last Mughal, Rushdie is not giving away much about his next book.
"All I can say is that there is a lot more India in this book. Two very different worlds of the East and the West collide and two very unlike universes come together in that collision. But it is miles from finishing. It’s only when I get to that moment where I have the words the way I want them that I start working like a crazy person," he said, adding that he abhorred the release phase for any book.
"It’s like being naked in public. I enjoy being read but the time I want to be most invisible is when I am expected to be most visible. I wish I could just disappear at the moment of publishing, he said.
In reference to Naipaul’s characterisation of Hindu nationalism as a great creative force in India, the India-born author regretted that Sir Vidia’s words were being usurped by fundamentalist elements for their own purposes. "He is not a fanatic, but when a Nobel laureate makes remarks like that they get magnified. Xerox copies of it are being used as a recruiting tool because these become useful words and he becomes a useful Nobel fool," Rushdie said during a Christie’s fundraiser here on Tuesday night.
Organised by Jaisalmer in Jeopardy to raise funds for restoration work in the world’s perfectly fortified city, the event raised an extra £1,020 by auctioning out signed copies of a complete set of the author’s works.
From the chutneyfication of Indian culture to Bollywood, Dalrymple and Rushdie enthralled the gathering, which included erstwhile Indian royals like the Rajmata of Jaipur and the Maharwal of Jaisalmer, with their tales of India.
"The great thing about India is its continual ability to surprise. In the midst of crises across the world where different cultures have decided they cannot live together, India has always managed to resist that force," said Dalrymple, the author of City of Djinns, and most recently The White Mughals.
His view was echoed by Rushdie: "Bollywood is a great example of this harmony. Not only are the three biggest heartthrobs Salman, Aamir and Shah Rukh Muslims, but they often play important Hindu characters, even divine ones. In fact, Hindustani is nothing but Urdu spoken with a Hindi accent."
He declared the recent rise of Hindu fundamentalism a beatable phenomenon and dismissed rewriting of history textbooks as a futile attempt at creating a polarised past. "After the Emergency, it was the common people who threw (former Prime Minister) Mrs Gandhi out and I have great faith in the spirit of India that I grew up in." While Dalrymple’s next work in based on the life of Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, titled The Last Mughal, Rushdie is not giving away much about his next book.
"All I can say is that there is a lot more India in this book. Two very different worlds of the East and the West collide and two very unlike universes come together in that collision. But it is miles from finishing. It’s only when I get to that moment where I have the words the way I want them that I start working like a crazy person," he said, adding that he abhorred the release phase for any book.
"It’s like being naked in public. I enjoy being read but the time I want to be most invisible is when I am expected to be most visible. I wish I could just disappear at the moment of publishing, he said.