Published: Feb 02, 2013, 11:14 PM (IST)
Edited: Feb 02, 2013, 11:14 PM (IST)
Sourav Ganguly was at the Kolkata Literary Meet to launch a book on Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi © Getty Images
Kolkata: Feb 2, 2013
Former India captain and batsman Sourav Ganguly made an indirect reference to the controversy surrounding Booker prize-winning author Salman Rushdie’s participation at the Kolkata Literary Meet, saying that he does not intend to write an autobiography.
Addressing a gathering at the event on the sidelines of a book launch on former skipper Nawab of Pataudi, Ganguly said he was yet to write a book so as to avoid front-page controversy.
“Because I don’t want a frontpage photograph the next morning like it was of Salman Rushdie today. And he’s not being allowed to enter the book fair. I generally tend to keep away from it,” Ganguly said about Saturday’s big story in the newspapers.
“It’s just the feeling that there is no point writing if I can’t write everything. Sometimes, you are forced not to write everything,” he said to a question what had made him avoid penning an autobiography even years after calling it quits from the game.
“May be at some stage, the autobiography would come but I don’t know when. A biography is about telling the truth to the world,” he added.
Rushdie had cancelled his visit to the literary meet alleging West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee had ordered police to block his arrival in Kolkata.
Replying to a “request” by one among the audience to become the brand ambassador of sports in Bengal, Ganguly quipped “you have to make this request to Didi not me”.
Ganguly also spoke about the secret of his successful stint as India captain.”
