Path: cmcl2!cmcl2.nyu.edu!grewals
From: grewals@acf2.nyu.edu (Subir Grewal)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.india,alt.censorship,soc.culture.indian.marathi
Subject: Salman Rushdie's problems, Bal Thackeray this time.
Date: 9 Sep 1995 04:55:02 GMT
Organization: New York University
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I'm not sure whether this has been discussed here, couldn't find an
article about it.  

It seems that Salman Rushdie has run into further problems with his new
book "The moor's last sigh".  The book is said to be the sequel to
Midnight's Children (brilliant), as such it deals with India after the
emergency.  And when writing of Bombay in this era who could ignore BAL
Thackeray and the Shiv Sena.  Rushdie has apparently written a couple of
chapters that form a caricature of the SS and BT.  Anticipating another
book-burning spree, the Indian publisher of the book (Rupa & co.) did
not distribute the book in Bombay.  So there are no copies of this book
available in the city in which the narrative is set, a recent Times of
India article states that the book has now been "withdrawn from
circulation" but fails to clarify whether Rupa has stopped distribution
in the country as a whole.

Another ToI article contained an interview with Bal Thackeray.  BT
derided Rushdie for not standing up to the Ayatollah and (with ref. to
The Moor's last sigh) for writing about a culture he knew very little
about.  Considering that Rushdie was born and brought up in Bombay this
seems a rather surprising statement to make.  BT further claimed that he
could present a much better caricature of Rushdie anyday, and (if I
remember correctly) called him a coward.  Mr. Thackeray says he will
talk about the book once he has read the relevent sections, he also said
he's in no hurry to do that.  A lot of people are waiting with baited
breath to see what he will say.  The book has received wide critical
acclaim in India and abroad.  Rushdie says he was not happy about the
sort of publicity the book is receiving in Bombay.  There have been no
incidents of violence yet.  

ON a seperate note, Meenatai Thackeray passed away as a result of a heart
attack.  Mr & Mrs. Thackeray were returning from their bungalow in
Khandala (I think it's in Khandala) when she suffered a heart attack
near Panvel.  This happened around 1 am on the 6th of September.  Mrs.
Thackeray was taken to a hospital nearby but was pronounced dead on
arrival.  Large parts of Bombay remained closed on the 6th of
September. 

--
Subir Grewal 					grewals@acf2.nyu.edu	
Washington Square News on the WWWeb	http://www.nyu.edu/pages/wsn/
------------------------Standard disclaimer applies--------------------------
I never fail to convince an audience that the best thing they could do
was to go away.