|
| |
Arise Sir Salman |
| |
Salman Rushdie has amassed for himself a fair number of distinctions over the years, among them the Booker of Bookers prize, the Whitbread novel award (twice), the James Tait Black memorial prize, and a fatwa from the Ayatollah Khomeini calling for his immediate assassination.
Last month, however, came the big one: a knighthood recognising the services to literature of one of the world’s most lauded - and most divisive - literary grandees. “I am thrilled and humbled to receive this great honour, and am very grateful that my work has been recognised in this way,” the newly-minted Sir Salman said in a statement.
The announcement signals a belated endorsement by the British establishment, 18 years after the author was forced to go on the run after The Satanic Verses was condemned as blasphemy by Iran’s late spiritual leader. Britain broke off diplomatic relations over the incident; Rushdie himself had to live in hiding for a decade. “I am delighted for him,” said fellow novelist Ian McEwan . “He’s a wonderful writer, and this sends a firm message to the book-burners and their appeasers.” |
|
|
|
|
John Sutherland, academic and former Booker prize judge, suggested the award might represent a tacit olive branch from those who perhaps had failed to support Sir Salman as he might have hoped. “It’s astonishing that Tony Blair, among others, has been so reluctant to be seen shaking Rushdie’s hand, and here he is getting a knighthood from the Queen,” said the emeritus professor of literature.
“Public figures have been very, very reluctant to support Rushdie, particularly when he was under direct threat of assassination. It’s a brave and entirely commendable decision by the people who advise the Queen - I would be curious to know if the recommendation came directly from Downing Street, though.” Fatwa aside, Sir Salman has long divided critical opinion. Midnight’s Children, only his second novel, was named Booker of Bookers, best novel of the previous 25 years, in 1993. His recent work has failed to win similar acclaim, however, and the author has abandoned the London literary scene for New York.
“It does set the mind speculating what went through his mind when he accepted [the knighthood],” said Prof Sutherland. “He is a nomad. He has a supra-national, postcolonial style, so that it is very hard to say who owns him. And now he has pledged himself in the personal service of the monarch! For the writer of The Satanic Verses, which was extremely rude about England, it’s certainly unusual.” He is not the only nominee extended a generosity of spirit in the Queen’s list. Cricketer Ian Botham becomes a knight, quietly overlooking the 1980s suspension from the game for cannabis possession. |
|
| |
|
|
Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty and one of the government’s most vocal critics on human rights, was astonished to get a CBE. “No one was more surprised than me, particularly when it must have been recommended by this government that I have fought so hard,” she said. “This is an official royal invitation to do more, and I will take that invitation on behalf of people punished without trial and barred from protest in Parliament Square.” |
|
|
| |
Mittal makes it three on Billionaire’s Row
Only a month after buying Britain’s most expensive home for his son, Indian origin billionaire Laxmi Niwas Mittal has reportedly bought a third house on London’s costliest street for £ 70 million (Rs 600 crore) said to be for his daughter Vanisha. The house in Kensington Palace Gardens is the former Philippine embassy and looks on to Kensington Palace, home of the late Princess Diana, the Evening Standard reported.
This is the third acquisition in the street for Mittal, chairman of steel giant ArcelorMittal with a fortune of £ 27 billion (approximately Rs 2,28,027 crore). |
|
|
|
|
Mittal paid £117 million (nearly Rs 1,000 crore) a month ago for a home for his son Aditya in Palace Green, an extension of Kensington Palace Gardens. The industrialist himself lives in a large house in Kensington Palace Gardens that he bought for £57 million (about Rs 500 crore) in 2004.
The paper quoted a spokesman for a top-end estate agent in London as saying that Mittal had already raised the value of his main property. “The Mittals have carried out substantial improvements to their main home, which is probably the largest private house in central London after Buckingham Palace.
“I would put its current value at close to £ 250 million (around Rs 2,110 crore),” said Noel de Keyzer, a director at the well-known property consultant Savills. Mittal also owns a £40 million (Rs 337 crore) property on The Bishops Avenue in north London near a mansion that is owned by the Sultan of Brunei. |
|
|
| |
|
