‘Time For Me To Get Up To Speed Again’

How does it feel being back in India?
I never expected to spend 12 years away. I’ve travelled through Solan, Jaipur, Shimla, Agra and Fatehpur Sikri. Every Indian carries an idea of India in his head. It was time for me to get up to speed again. I don’t intend to be away this long again.

What differences do you see in this India and the India you remember?
Not much; it’s still as intense, slightly more crowded and more excitable than ever. India is a very intense experience.

Comment on the controversy over the anthology of Indian writing you edited?
Doing anthologies is dicey; everyone remembers what is left out. I wanted to do over 1,100 pages; I ended up doing 550.

What of the 1988 banning of Satanic Verses; the refusal of permission to film Midnight’s Children?
If you’d told me what would happen on the day Satanic Verses was published, I wouldn’t have believed you. I was shocked when it was banned, I didn’t believe it. But you can’t bear a grudge against an entire subcontinent.

On this trip, I’ve had no heated arguments. Many people have had inaccurate ideas: that Satanic Verses says the Koran was written by the Devil, which is untrue. I come from an Indian Muslim family, have nothing against Indian Muslims; I hope they have nothing against me. I’m disappointed about the refusal of permission to film Midnight’s Children, but it’s time to move on.

Do you attract controversy?
A writer tells the truth as he sees it; you hope everyone will like it, but you accept that some people won’t. That’s their call.