Was listening to/watching a few of Salman Rushdie's speeches. Well, the occasion actually was rather "coffee table" types. It was not exactly the passionate about literature and/or creativity crowd.
And, yet, did he hold them in thrall, almost as effectively as did the Ancient Mariner. Well, unlike the poor wedding guest, the audience was not squirming in their finery and/or coat tails.
The tale Rushdie told was deeply ethical, too. It sure was grim and tragic, though the disaster loomed miniscule in hindsight, that is to say, the fatwa appeared a little less dangerous.
What was remarkable about the speech and the Q-n-A session afterwards was the joyful, effervescent tone of Rushdie. His life as Joseph Anton did not seem to hang heavy around him like the albatross. He was full of witty wisecracks, even risque references. His humour was unbelievably subtle and deeply intellectual, exceptionally witty. What a wonderful conversational tone indeed!
The horrible harrassment, the life threat, the years of personal and professional losses seemed to sit so lightly on him that he truly appeared heroic. And yet he was overflowing with genuine humility.
I suppose it was the feather touch humility that was unsettling. He was absolutely not creating an avatar out of himself. And the whole of it appeared genuine, not the put on poses of a smart- aleck-y poseur with a partisan hectoring rhetoric.
I believe it was the searing scorching honesty (every word rang true) and genuine quality analysis without easy solutions or stupid simplifications, that, in the final analysis, was undoubtedly the real hallmark of the man who moreover, was not full of himself! No pretences, no grandstanding! Purely the razor sharp brain and a hyper creative mind with a genuine ethical standpoint rooted in a huge heart were the bases of his talk. The Ideal formula of a Perfect Speech!
Pratima@ A motivational speaker par excellence precisely because he was speaking out his soul. Its dazzling honesty made it truly real! A treat to (h)ear!
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