New Delhi:

A month after the attack on Salman Rushdie at a public event, author Suketu Mehta, his friend, said he spoke to the writer recently and that his mind is “as sharp as ever” despite the severe injuries to his body.

“Salman is incredible. He was stabbed over a dozen times, and he is as lucid and cogent as ever. There will be a long recovery ahead,” Suketu Mehta, the author of “Maximum City”, told NDTV.

Salman Rushdie, 74, was stabbed at a function in New York on August 12, 34 years after a fatwa by Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini for his controversial novel “Satanic Verses”. The attacker, 24-year-old Hadi Matar of Lebanese descent, was arrested.

The renowned writer is still recovering, but he has suffered damage to his eye, apart from his liver and his arms.

“He is still recovering. His location obviously can’t be revealed for security reasons. My friend is very much alive, and he is going to be writing more than ever. Although his body has suffered grievous injuries, his mind is as sharp as ever. He is up and joking. And he has a large circle of family and friends who are going to take care of him,” said Suketu Mehta.

“He is some combo of Jesus Christ, a phoenix and Rasputin. Nothing can get my friend down.”

Salman Rushdie laughed at this comment when they spoke as recently as last week, Mr Mehta shared.

“He is a Bombay boy. This is what you have got to realise about Salman. He, like me is a Bombay boy and Bombay boys can take a beating and still stand up… And have a laugh.”

Mr Mehta said he was sure that Salman Rushdie was going to be writing for revenge.

“As his agent said, his eyes suffered great damage. And again, I told him I would get him a pirate’s eye patch, and he will look very dashing. With Salman, humour is important. A sense of not being defeated… is important,” Mr Mehta said.

“We didn’t speak about the writing, but knowing my friend, I am sure that he is going to be writing now for revenge. And whatever damage his body might have suffered, his mind is all there. He is going to find ways of communicating, writing. I don’t know exact logistics. don’t know nature of injuries. But this one thing I know, that he is going to be writing more than ever. Also because he is going to be home, not going to many cocktail parties. Which is always forced isolation for a writer.”

Mr Mehta admitted that for some terrifying moments, he worried about Rushdie making it.

“It was a horrific thing that happened to him. When I first heard of the stabbing I did not know whether my friend would be around. would live. it is quite a miracle that he endured a dozen stab wounds to his body, and he, as the old Timex ad said, it takes a licking and keeps on ticking…”

On reports criticising a perceived belated response from the Indian government to the attack, Mr Mehta said it was “shameful”.

“He is arguably the most famous living writer in the world, and there is a good shot he might win the Nobel this year,” he said, referring to an editorial by David Remnick, New Yorker Editor, making a case for Rushdie to win the Nobel.

Also injured at that event was moderator of the event, Henry Reese, who is cofounder of City of Asylum, a residency programme for writers living in exile. He said initially, many thought it was a prank, not a murder attempt. He agreed that Salman Rushdie recovered “miraculously quickly”.