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Salman Rushdie’s Enchantress of Florence: Book launch - June 3, 2008

Enchanted in NY

At the NY launch of his book, Salman Rushdie just wanted to eat, drink and be with old friends
Posted On Sunday, June 08, 2008

Last week, in the middle of a conversation with Salman Rushdie at the Rubin Museum of Art, Shashi Tharoor turned to the audience and declared, “I want you all to know that according to Salman Rushdie, Jodha Bai did not exist.”

“No, historically Jodha Bai did not exist,” Rushdie said, which led Tharoor to ask the next question, “And Aishwarya Rai didn’t exist either?”

“No, Aishwarya Rai exists, unfortunately,” Rushdie said, as he laughed at his own joke. The audience of nearly 300 people, half of them South Asians, all laughed along with Rushdie.

This was the New York City launch of Rushdie’s new novel The Enchantress of Florence, organised by the museum and the Indo-American Arts Council.

Rushdie went on to explain that according to his research, Emperor Akbar was married to a Rajput princess whose Muslim name was Mariam-uz-Zamani. And Mariam was the mother of Prince Jahangir, he added. Another piece of information from Sir Salman Rushdie - Jodha Bai was the

The Enchantress of Florence tracks Rushdie’s contention that Akbar’s capital Fatehpur Sikri was linked to Florence

name of a minor wife of Jahangir. “All the Mughal kings had Rajput wives,” he said.

Rushdie acknowledged that to the common man on the street, in South Asia and in films, Jodha Bai remains Akbar’s wife.

In reality, there is more confusion on this. Wikipedia, the source of all information (some of which is often incorrect) on the Internet maintains that Mariam-uz-Zamani also had another name - Jodha Bai!

Tharoor ended this thread of conversation by saying, “Only Salman can get away with it.” And Rushdie seemed pleased with that conclusion.

On another note, Tharoor asked Rushdie about his perspective about Islam today, not only because of his clash with the fundamentalists, but because he raises the issue of religion and God in his latest book.

Rushdie appeared contemplative when he said that he remembered his childhood, growing up in a Muslim family, and what it meant to be a Muslim in India. He mentioned that his family initially chose not to migrate to Pakistan. He further described the state of Islam today by giving the example of Beirut.

“When we were young, Beirut was referred to as the Paris of the East,” he said, looking towards Tharoor. He suggested that the current brand of fundamentalist Islam was to blame for the state of Beirut. “Now Beirut is a basket-case. It is a tragedy and a self-inflicted wound and America didn’t do any of that.”

The Enchantress of Florence is the result of seven years of research. The book tracks Rushdie’s contention that Akbar’s capital of Fatehpur Sikri, a hedonistic city as the author describes it, was connected to the sensual city of Florence.

Rushdie includes a bibliography at the end of the book and, as Tharoor pointed out, this was a first for the author. Rushdie responded, “I wanted people to know that this world is known by the author. It wasn’t made up. If people like the book, they can continue the journey. But I don’t know why people are hung-up over the bibliography. It appears at the end of the book and you don’t need to read it.”

The Rubin Museum event started with a short musical recital by Alby Roblejo, Trina Basu and Suphala - an Indian-American tabla player who is also a friend of Rushdie. And Rushdie was introduced by Aroon Shivdasani - the executive director of IAAC. Shivdasani pointed out that the launch, which included a 20-minute reading by the author, was actually an excuse for everyone to party. All Rushdie wanted was to celebrate the occasion, and eat and drink with his friends.

And the friends did show up, including bold names from New York’s South Asian literary and artistic community, like Suketu Mehta, Kiran Desai, her mother, Anita Desai, and actress and cookbook writer Madhur Jaffrey. The reception went on until late in the evening at the museum’s caf - with the bartenders serving delicious concoctions, including Zen Marguerites, and an assortment of nouvelle cuisine. Rushdie looked pleased, talking to the press, posing for pictures and signing books.

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/net/mmpaper.aspx?page=article&sectid=54&
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