LONDON: Mumbai-born and well-known author Salman Rushdie on Monday said for the first time since the murderous attack on him last year that he was lucky to have survived it. On August 12 last year, the 75-year-old British-American author was delivering a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in New York, USA, when a man climbed onto the stage and attacked him several times with a knife and also punched him. In this attack, he has lost the light of one eye.
Rushdie was awarded the Booker Prize for his novel ‘Midnight’s Children’. In his first interview since the attack, the author told The New Yorker magazine that he was grateful to those who supported him and his family. It also includes his sons Zafar and Milan. Rushdie told the magazine, “I was lucky.”
He said, “I can get up and walk. When I say I am fine, I mean that some parts of my body need constant checking. It was a big attack.” When asked why the vigilance is not on even after years of issuing a fatwa to kill former Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Khomeini for alleged ‘blasphemy’ in his novel ‘The Satanic Verses’, Mr. On whether it was a mistake to behave, he said, “I am asking myself this question too and I do not know the answer. I have done this for more than 20 years of my life. So is it a mistake?
He said, “I have written many books. The Senatic Verses was my fifth published book – my fourth published novel – and this (Victory City novel) is my 21st novel. Three fourth of my life has passed since the fatwa came. In a way, you can’t regret taking your life.” Rushdie said that he had never considered how people would react if he was assassinated. He said, “I have tried very hard to avoid condemnation and bitterness in these years.” His new novel ‘Victory City’ was completed before the attack. This is about Hampi in Karnataka. Hammi has ruins of the medieval Vijayanagara Empire.
