Having Their Reasons

I know it’s totally none of my beeswax, but I was still kinda sad to read that Salman Rushdie (who needs no introduction) and FoodTV host Padma Lakshmi were calling it quits after three years of marriage. Rushdie has filed for divorce from his fourth wife and word has it (or maybe not) that Lakshmi has been seen on the arm (and stuff) of fellow FoodTV host and author Anthony Bourdain.

News of the divorce comes just weeks after Rushdie was knighted, something that created a flashback to the 1989 fatwa that came about after the publication of Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses. According to the International Herald Tribune:

The Iranian government denounced it as “an obvious example of fighting against Islam by high-ranking British officials.” The Pakistani Parliament passed a resolution condemning the knighthood, while the minister of religious affairs suggested it would justify future suicide bombings. In a letter to The Guardian, the leaders of 12 British Muslim groups decried the knighthood as “a deliberate provocation and insult to the 1.5 billion Muslims around the world.”

So, if the rumors of her re-coupling are true, someone needs to take Lakshmi in hand; set her straight. Bourdain for Rushdie is not an upgrade. Who says swapping an author everyone is mad at for one who is mad at everyone is a step up?

I have to leave the final word for designer Sanjana Jon who, according to The Times of India has “met the couple several times.” Jon told the times that we “shouldn’t be judgmental about the relationship. After all, they must be having their reasons.”