London, Dec 10: Controversial NRI author Salman
Rushdie says the best thing that has happened to him during
the fatwa days was that he could write his latest novel
'Shalimar The Clown'.
Fifty-nine-year-old Rushdie who lived for many years in
hiding when his novel 'The Satanic Verses' prompted death
threats from Muslim leaders in 1988 said one of the things he
made clear at the start of the Fatwa was that he had to find a
way of seeing his child who was nine then.
"We put up a quite elaborate smokescreen - we decided it
would be better if people believed I couldn't see my family.
But in fact I did see them. It was very, very complicated: I
couldn't go to (his third wife) Clarissa's house, and for a
long time Zafar didn't know where I lived.
"In a way it was fortunate for him that his mother and I
weren't living together, because the structure of his life was
not disrupted," he told the Sunday Times.
After the first year and a half, contrary to public
perception, the writer said, "I led quite a settled life. I was
in one house and he'd come and go, though he'd be brought
there by the police. The police have these sports facilities
around London and we'd play ping pong or throw a rugby ball
around."
Stating that he tried to phone his son each day, Rushdie
said he kept his son informed of what was happening.
"One thing that really mattered to me during the fatwa
was the fact I wrote this book for him. I think he (son)
really loved it but he was also a very good critic of it", he
said.
Bureau Report
