Salman Rushdie wants to spend a lot of time in India now

At the first-floor Residence Lounge, everybody waited with bated breath. When Das came out with the news that Rushdie would not be holding any press conference, there was a collective sigh of disappointment. Nobody it seemed was willing to leave without their date with the man who lived with a fatwa over his head for more than a decade.

The anticipation was killing. Big Daddies of the media carried around copies of his books for the Man to sign. It seemed that he was too big for them to be embarrassed to ask for his autograph or even pose for a photograph with them.

A well-known TV anchor, showing this reporter autographed copies of Shame and The Moor’s Last Sigh, said: “Look these books were signed during his last visits. I had pirated copies of his earlier works. He initally refused, saying that he never signs pirated versions. But when I told him that as I was a student and that was all I could afford — he relented.”

According to Das, Rushdie had a tight schedule with a dinner in his honour being held in the evening. He did have an impromptu discussion with select media personalities. They talked about his work, and from their remarks after the 20-minute event, they were quite satisfied. “It was really good. We all criticised his anthology and he actually acknowledged that it was weak,” said Tarun Tejpal.

For other reporters who had been stranded due to the cancelled press conference, Rushdie suddenly emerged from one of the rooms and apologising for any misunderstanding, offered to answer any queries.

There were the usual questions about his plans, security threats, future writings and life in general. Was he going to pursue his plans about the filming of Midnight’s Children? “The ban on the shooting is yet to be lifted. We might pursue it again but I would have to persuade BBC to try again,” he said.

As he seemed quite relaxed about the security arrangements, he even dismissed the need for going out incognito. “The security arrangements here are a decision of the Delhi authorities for which I am very grateful,” he said. Although, he said that the fatwa was over, but the divided society in Iran meant that there were still some elements of threat. He did laugh when someone suggested that Ayatollah Khomeini deserved a part of his royalty for making him world famous: “I don’t think that Ayatollah Khomeini is in a position to collect it!”

He dismissed reports of big money being spent by British authorities on his security: “The amount increases by another digit each time it is reported,” he said, adding, “I am a British taxpayer, too!”

Rushdie has spent a couple of days at Anees Villa in Solan. He indicated that he was considering converting it into a writers’ retreat. “I intend to be here quite a lot,” he said, and about shifting to India, he said: “I initially thought that I was going to use the money from the Satanic Verses to buy a house here, but then the situation became impossible.”

Relishing the thought of being back in the country of his origin, he said it was “overwhelming” to be back. He said that changes like

The speculation over his lady love Padma Lakshmi could not be shaken off. On why she didn’t accompany him here, he just said “bad luck!” with a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

His last remark was a boyish plug for his book: “I’m here for another book which is now in the bookshops — please buy it and please tell your friends about it!”