1.5.08

Salman Rushdie caught necking

He is a strange creature, but this one time I like the fact that he is not letting his “literary giant” status overtake him. I like it that he is featuring in a video for Scarlett Johansson’s new single Falling Down. I like it that he is necking her. One wonders, though, whether her dumbing down her looks is sending out a message and whether the choice of the writer for the role was deliberate.

Sir Salman playing the intellectual lover?

He is also giving interviews to ‘soft’ magazines. He told Elle: “It’s strange, given that I’ve been married four times, but I actually don’t think marriage is necessary. Girls like it, especially if they’ve never been married before—it’s the dress. Girls want a wedding, they don’t want a marriage. If only you could have weddings without marriages.”

Now, now, nothing is necessary. But Sir Salman ought to know that there are several men who want marriage too and the ‘boys’ don’t want just a wedding, right – the tuxedo, three-piece or sherwani stuff?

If only he left the Gabriel farishtas and came down to earth he’d realise that if women get married, it is because they want to. The reasons may differ, but it is a choice…often it is a deep belief in commitment.

It could be commitment to necking that one person for as long as you can, so what?

6 comments:

  1. I 'a boy'got married because my mother wanted me to. I had loved and lost... often. I did not ask for marriage :-( but I laughed and had lot of cake and champagne on my wedding day.

    I am sounding vanilla here... but is that not the truth for Indian boys and Indian girls. Farzana?

    BTW who knows Salman rushdie here? I had a paperback of teh Satanic Verses I never read but often showed to guests. my uncle once drunk took it with him to show off to his friends that he had one. That was rushdie to us :-)

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  2. I think FV has a love-hate relationship with Salman Rushdie. She love’s him for the city they both were born in, the one she claims as home and he as a simile – faded black and white photographs like fading past - for how he intertwines dreams into reality overlaid with metaphor. She love’s him for writing “Midnight’s Children” for in his writing she sees a sign of a maturing artist as indeed the book marks as the pierre angulaire of her own coming of age as a writer. She hates him for writing “Satanic Verses” and most of all for turning into a willing instrument of the Imperialist elite and even more so for becoming one himself. She saw in the aftermath of the Fatwa, an opportunity for Rushdie to stand out as an independent voice that could not be muffled by the mullah nor be used as a prop by the imperialist – she is disappointed in his failure. I am just sayin’ , what do I know.

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  3. :)
    You take care.

    Since it has been mentioned twice, I think that a person who can complete reading The Satanic Verses and not attempt suicide should be honoured. Putting other, much discussed, aspects of the book aside, I found the book to be so painfully boring that I wanted to scream from the pain. I think the reason why Salman Rushdie still writes is coz the book got banned. Otherwise he'd be so embarrassed that he'd never step outside his house. And look, he's neckin Scarlett Johansson. Cool.

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  4. Amandeep:

    "I laughed and had lot of cake and champagne on my wedding day.

    I am sounding vanilla here... but is that not the truth for Indian boys and Indian girls. Farzana?"

    What? That they (not saying 'we' because humko tau hazam nahin hua!) eat cake and champagne and laugh, all this while the pundit/maulvi/priest/registrar is saying unmentionable things like "sambhog" and "qubool hai?" and "I do"...jaise woh waise hi karenge??

    About Rushdie, I am making sure everyone ‘here’ knows...you think only jaahils visit this blog? I got a hardback edition and it is placed on top of 'Colonising the Hindu Mind’ :-)

    - - -

    Anonymous:

    FV likes him for nuzzling necks. She said so. But let me deal with your points…

    “She love’s him for the city they both were born in”

    So, that gives me a lot of people to love.

    “…for how he intertwines dreams into reality overlaid with metaphor”

    This sounds like I love a frozen soufflé topped with a fluffy one.

    “She love’s him for writing “Midnight’s Children””

    He wrote it for me? No, na? I prefer ‘Shame’ by a mile.

    “…for in his writing she sees a sign of a maturing artist as indeed the book marks as the pierre angulaire of her own coming of age as a writer”

    Hello, hello? Sir Salman does not offer any mirror to my ‘baali um’r likhaavat’. I don’t want to come of age (I have aged rather gracefully, if not with the right amount of magic realism), and certainly not by seeing his reflection.

    “She hates him for writing “Satanic Verses” and most of all for turning into a willing instrument of the Imperialist elite and even more so for becoming one himself.”

    I don’t hate him; I just get disgusted, less for his writing it than for his using it.

    “She saw in the aftermath of the Fatwa, an opportunity for Rushdie to stand out as an independent voice that could not be muffled by the mullah nor be used as a prop by the imperialist – she is disappointed in his failure.”

    No. I have always said a fatwa is an opinion, not a religious edict. So, there is nothing to stand up against. It is like someone standing up against McDonald burgers. His ‘failure’ is his marketing martyrdom shamelessly.

    “I am just sayin’ , what do I know.”

    Oh, you are not just sayin’… but I respect your opinion, and the time and effort expended on my love-hate relationships. Do elucidate on others that might happen…

    - - -

    SM:

    I usually take risks, not care…

    Why did you put so much emotion into reading this book that you had to scream in pain? I am glad he is still writing. Imagine if he was embarrassed he would be cooking with Padma (they’d still be married) and writing syrupy stuff about candle flames flickering in her eyes as he sautéed the onions.

    I think the necking is a metaphor for ‘gardan sooli par’.

    Btw, how do you plan to honour those who have read the book in full?

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  5. nahin Farzana ji "here" bole to mere idhar udhar (around me)

    besides...Taj Mahal mein agar gadhe ghus aayen to bhi zeenat kam na hogi :-)

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  6. "I have always said a fatwa is an opinion, not a religious edict"

    really?The mullahs 'opined' that the guy should be killed and the gangs of fanatic muslims that went out were just expressing their opinion?Like the opinion on the Dutch movie maker Theo van Gough whose throat was brutally slit by a muslim thug?Maybe Rishdie should have willingly offered himself to the muslim fanatics for the closet jehadis like like FV to be happy.Rushdie says some real (and bitter truth) about the so called 'rasool' and that riles muslims like FV.

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