Following in the Footsteps of the Midnight's Children's Author

Contrary to the popular belief that authors are reclusive lot working from lofts or, better still, from padlocked studies filled with books, our own Salman Rushdie is living it up on the New York night-life scene. Here's the article in New York Times. Read.

What is impressive about Rushdie (something I garnered from interviews I have seen on Youtube) is his personable, affable nature and his sense of humour. He can say something witty about almost anything and make people laugh. This is great considering most writers can't open their mouths to say anything profound. They are creatures of the written work, they argue, not the spoken word. That must be the charm of Rushdie and the magnetism with which he attracts women to him. The article ponders about Rushdie's recent love interests also. Need it have? These days a book is more about its author than its contents. Books have become publicity tools. It's the age of instant mass consumption, use and throw, glance at a few pages and place on the shelf. So if you want to make an impression then you have to be written about. So, why not in the society columns?

In an interview, I remember, Rushdie saying to effect, "You have read about me in the social pages, where do literary pages feature authors these days?" What a true statement on the state of literary show biz!

Right. Then Indian Writers in English (IWE) how about casting aside your shyness and tutoring yourself to face the press and attendant publicity, if you become as famous as him, that is.

I am @johnwriter on Twitter and John.Matthew on Facebook. I blog here.