over Rushdie coming to India has taken on a life of its own and like a juggernaut is rolling all over the place fomenting unrest and instigating violence. I think the only one who is gaining is Rushdie himself because by now The Satanic Verses must be in printing overdrive...
Literature, to my mind, is all about feeling, and therefore by extension, about choice. One should welcome all kinds of literature else how will one ever know various lines of thinking; how will one ever get to know about things/people/occurrences, to name a few worlds that reading opens up; how will one ever extend the boundaries of life and living? how will one choose what resonates with our core, or our way of thinking? how will one know what and how to think? how will one choose between one and the other kind of literature?
What is more satanic than The Satanic Verses is our hypocrisy. What is more demoniacal and diabolical is the way we treat each other; or behave with those who are less fortunate, or cannot hit back; or grovel before those who are 'above' us, all the while making others grovel before us; or willingly become sycophants of those who we imagine have an advantage over us, or hold our interests in their hands, even as we ruthlessly push our tiny two-bit position; or cruelly use our clout and position over who have nothing to give; or kowtow to people for our own personal furtherance, expecting the same; or behave with impunity to gain our ends; or allow our personal greed to gain dominance and precedence over public good; or............
What can be more satanic than the crime we allow to be perpetrated against girls and women?