Latest news with #Knife
New Straits Times
15-07-2025
- Business
- New Straits Times
#JOM: Mama Cah's halal bak zhang makes waves
WHAT began as a casual recipe video sparked a business idea that would take Mama Cah further than she ever imagined. It all started with a single video in 2024. While filming her usual home-cooked recipe content, Mama Cah, a passionate home chef, shared a clip on making halal bak zhang, not knowing it would turn into a business idea that would take off nationwide. "The comment section was full of people asking if I was selling it," she recalled. "That question planted the seed. I realised there was a demand for halal bak zhang, which I hadn't considered before." What followed was more than just a viral hit. It became the foundation of a growing business centred on premium, halal versions of nostalgic Chinese-Malaysian dishes. BUILT FROM HOME, FUELED BY HEART Starting small from her home kitchen, Mama Cah first experimented with a cherished family recipe passed down from her late mother-in-law. "I started from home, where I filmed my content and sold homemade sambal." Working without a storefront, she kept operations lean, managing everything online, from content creation to sambal production and frozen deliveries. Quality was never compromised. Every bak zhang was made using carefully selected, premium ingredients. Traditionally wrapped in bamboo leaves, bak zhang is a glutinous rice dumpling filled with savoury ingredients. "We use premium ingredients like tea flower mushroom, Knife brand vegetable oil, boneless chicken thigh meat and whole duck salted egg. Customers often tell us it reminds them of their childhood, but with a modern, accessible twist. "It's comfort food, done right and inclusive," she shared. One of the earliest turning points came during the puasa and festive season, when overwhelming repeat orders began pouring in. That surge validated her product and gave Mama Cah the confidence to scale the business. To date, the halal bak zhang remains her best seller, especially among customers craving a taste of tradition that fits modern dietary needs. "It's not just the uniqueness, but it's also the care we put into it," she said. Like many first-time entrepreneurs, Mama Cah faced her fair share of challenges when it came to scaling her business. "Anticipating demand and scaling production to match it was tough. We didn't want to overpromise and underdeliver, especially when it came to food quality and timely delivery. "Keeping every batch fresh and consistent was a steep learning curve," she says. Customer feedback became a guiding force in improving her operations. "Feedback is gold. It's not just about fixing problems, it's about evolving with your customers and staying true to why you started in the first place," she added. From investing in better equipment to upgrading her packaging process, every move was made to ensure that each order reached customers just as fresh as it left her kitchen. CHILLED TO PERFECTION Behind the scenes, reliable delivery quickly became a make-or-break factor for Mama Cah's growing business. That's where Ninja Cold, the cold chain delivery solution by Ninja Van Malaysia, came in. "Partnering with Ninja Cold gave us peace of mind," says Mama Cah."Their frozen logistics mean we can now deliver our products from Kuantan to across Peninsular Malaysia without worrying about quality drop-offs. After all, logistics is the backbone of customer experience. Especially in fresh food delivery, the timing and condition matter the most. That's why it's important that we partner with a reliable cold chain delivery provider such as Ninja Cold." With temperature-controlled delivery ensuring each order arrives fresh, Ninja Cold has become a key enabler, allowing Mama Cah to focus on what she does best: creating delicious, nostalgic food with care. Looking ahead, Mama Cah is gearing up to launch a new offering, a halal take on loh mai gai (steamed glutinous rice with chicken). Like her bestselling bak zhang, it's a dish rooted in childhood memories, reimagined for today's wider audience. "We're also planning festive bundles and teaming up with other food creators. It's an exciting time," she shares. As her journey continues, Mama Cah says staying true to her purpose has made all the difference. She also notes that having reliable support like Ninja Cold's cold chain delivery service has helped her small business grow with confidence.
Scroll.in
13-07-2025
- General
- Scroll.in
Writer Tabish Khair on how a good book can be an instrument to engage with the ‘outside world'
'I used books the way some people use alcohol, to obliterate the noise of the outside world.' I came across this quotation, attributed to an author I am not familiar with, on Facebook, and it was accompanied by comments highlighting the seclusion and isolation that books purportedly provide to various readers. As a writer of a certain kind, I feel that such quotations are only partly accurate – or only partly understood. Yes, it is true that this is what a lot of people feel when they read: they retreat into a safe space, far from the madding crowd. They create a vacuum around themselves, a kind of cocoon. But they partly misunderstand their own activity of reading, because a book is always the outside world. In that sense, there is no 'vacuum' in a good book, no space devoid of the other, no safe island. Even the worst book is by someone else about the world out there – and/or 'in there', inside this stranger-writer's head. Good books are very complex invitations to enter – and get totally absorbed in this world that also exists outside you. Hence, one claims to get absorbed by a book. This feeling of absorption is what sometimes misleads us into thinking that a good book shuts out the 'outside world', and to compare reading to something like getting intoxicated on alcohol. But if alcohol simply deadens your awareness, numbs your pain, makes you forget your troubles, acts like Karl Marx's understanding of religion as the opium of the people, then it is not a good simile to apply to books. You do not look into the brimming glass of a good book and see only yourself looking back, like dejected drinkers have stereotypically been depicted as doing in Bollywood films. What a book does is insert you into another world, and your addiction – or intoxication – is not an inebriation with your own self, but an engagement with another self. That is, firstly, the self of the writer, and secondly those many selves contained in the 'outside world' narrated by the writer, whether it is given to you as fact or fiction, whether it comes to you as a collection of poems or a series of scientific discoveries. This is one of the reasons why I found Salman Rushdie's Knife disappointing. Bear in mind that I had responded strongly against the stupid and murderous attack on him, and I had even suggested that he should be given the Nobel, just to put across the message that such attacks are to be condemned and resisted by the rest of us. Hence, I came to Knife with much anticipation: Rushdie is an accomplished writer and he has, given his tragic experiences, a lot to say about many things that afflict the world today. There was also much of interest in Knife, but slowly Rushdie's greatest failure, exacerbated during and after his exile, started grating on my nerves: his loud confidence that often has an upper-class origin rather than just an intellectual one. Then he went on, and after defining his confused and deplorable assailant as an 'ass' – a word that obviously belongs to arm-chair public school club circles – the book moved into a dialogue between the assailant and Rushdie. Except that the assailant never spoke: he was imagined as speaking by Rushdie. This, of course, can be one of the strengths of fiction, as I argue in my last book, Literature Against Fundamentalism. It can get to enunciate perspectives, fill in silences, explore contradictions that stolidly 'factual prose' cannot. But in this case, actually, it did not do so: I could imagine a far richer and provocative conversation between a real person and someone like Rushdie. What happened was, at best, a simple version of the Socratic dialogues: the questions were angled in such a way as to inveigle certain answers, so that what one heard was the voice of the self, and the other was again silenced. This is exactly what I feel that literature at its best does not do, and Rushdie, being capable of great literature in the past, surely knows that too. The other speaks in every good book, even in a good genre novel. We cannot and do not exist in isolation. The richness of our 'inside world' is intertwined with the richness of our 'outside worlds.' A book expands the possibility of this richness a million times. As a reader, you visit more places, experience more lives, and encounter more ideas than you ever would as an individual in life. And even more than that, a book provides you with the necessary space in which you can actually 'hear' the outside world. That point about 'noise' in my initial quotation was partly correct. The outside world, as we encounter it in living our harried lives, is full of distracting noise: these often retard any real engagement, and sometimes actively thwart it. A book enables you to leave behind this noise of the outside world, so that, actually, you can engage with the outside world in a fuller manner. It means going out into the world; it also means coming home to yourself. What a book enables is a deeper and better relationship between the reader's 'inside world' and the 'outside world', by shutting out all kinds of noise. A book is not a vacuum, and if it is a cocoon, it is one only to the extent that, if it is really good, you are going to hatch into another reality, become another being. A good book is more like a telescope, a microscope, a stethoscope, a hearing aid, and a dozen such instruments to engage with the otherness of the 'outside world' – all rolled into one, and with something else added to their sum effect!
Time Magazine
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Magazine
Breaking Down the Ending of Squid Game
Warning: Spoilers ahead for Squid Game Season 3 Squid Game was never supposed to have a second season, let alone a third one. It wasn't even supposed to be a show—Hwang Dong-hyuk, the writer-director behind the global phenomenon, originally imagined the story as a film. However, the massive success of the series—Squid Game had been viewed nearly 600 million times prior to the release of the final season—led to more seasons. On Friday, the final six episodes of the series will premiere, closing out the devastating dystopian drama. Season 3 picks up right where the second season ended, following Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) as he heads back into the Game for a second time with the intention of ending it. At the end of Season 2, Gi-hun led a failed rebellion against the workers, soldiers, and managers who run the Game under the Front Man's (Lee Byung-hun) orders and on behalf of the VIPs. With their hope dashed, Gi-hun and his surviving allies head back into the Game. Who lives, who dies, and how does Hwang wrap the Korean-language drama up? Let's break down the brutal but hopeful ending of Squid Game. Who dies in Squid Game Season 3? Per tradition, most of the characters in Squid Game do not make it out of the season alive. Heading into Season 3, surviving Players include: trans woman Hyun-ju (Park Sung-hoon), mother-son duo Geum-ja (Kang Ae-sim) and Yong-sik (Yang Dong-geun), pregnant contestant Jun-hee (Jo Yu-ri) and her crypto YouTuber ex Myung-gi (Yim Si-wan), timid Min-su (Lee David), Thanos' right-hand man Nam-gyu (Roh Jae-won), shaman Seon-nyeo (Chae Kuk-hee), and former marine Dae-ho (Kang Ha-neul). Round 4 is a bloodbath, as the Players are randomly divided evenly into 'Knives' and 'Keys' categories. The Knives must kill a Key to stay alive, and the Keys must stay alive to, well, stay alive. Nam-gyu convinces fellow Knife Myung-gi to temporarily team. Myung-gi has promised Jun-hee, a Key, that he will find and protect her. Meanwhile, Jun-hee is with fellow Keys Geum-ja and Hyun-ju. They make a good team—when Jun-hee goes into labor, Geum-ja delivers the baby, while Hyun-ju protects them and finds a safe exit. The baby is born, but before they can escape the game, Hyun-ju is killed by Myung-gi. He runs off to keep Nam-gyu from going after Jun-hee, leaving Jun-hee and Geum-ja devastated by Hyun-ju's death. Gi-hun, who has been sorted onto the Knife team, has temporarily gone insane with vengeance. Devastated by the death of Jung-bae and the other people he led into the rebellion, he places all of the blame on Dae-ho. Dae-ho, who talked a big game about being a former marine, failed to bring back much-needed weapons to the rebellion because he was too scared to return to the fight. Gi-hun spends the round stalking Dae-ho and eventually kills him. 'It's your fault,' he tells Dae-ho, as he chokes the life from him. Shaman Seon-nyeo also dies in this round, killed by Min-su after she is betrayed by Player 100, aka Im Jeong-dae (Song Young-chang). Min-su, who has taken one of Thanos' pills, hallucinates Seon-nyeo as Nam-gyu, who has been torturing Min-su the whole game. Geum-ja and Jun-hee make their way toward the exit as the clock ticks down. They are found by Yong-sik, a Knife who has yet to kill anyone. Geum-ja tries to convince her son to kill her, but he turns his gaze towards Jun-hee instead. To protect Jun-hee, Geum-ja uses her hair piece to stab her own son. After the surviving Players are back in the dorm, Geum-ja tells Gi-hun he must do everything he can to protect Jun-hee and her baby. That night, Geum-ja hangs herself, unable to live with the knowledge that she killed her son. Round 5 is a deadly game of Jump Rope in which Players must make it across a narrow walkway without falling hundreds of feet below. Gi-hun has committed himself to protecting Jun-hee and the baby. He brings the baby across first but when he prepares to go back for Jun-hee, she chooses to step over the edge to her death. She knows that, with her swollen ankle and the limited time left, it will be almost impossible for Gi-hun to help her without losing his life too. Following Jun-hee's death, the baby assumes her role as Player 222. Does the Front Man reveal his identity to Gi-hun? One of the major questions heading into Season 3 was: will Hwang In-ho ever reveal his true identity to Gi-hun? In Season 2, In-ho went into the Game as Player 001, as a way to control the events and, let's be honest, torture Gi-hun a little bit. During Gi-hun's failed rebellion, In-ho switches back into Front Man mode. He pretends Player 001 is dead, and kills Gi-hun's friend, Jung-bae. As the Front Man, he taunts Gi-hun for his belief that he could end the Game. In Season 3, In-ho finally reveals himself to Gi-hun as the Front Man. At the end of Episode 4, '222,' the Front Man has his soldiers bring Gi-hun to his office ahead of the final round. In-ho gives Gi-hun a knife, and tells him that he should murder the other contestants in their sleep. If he does, Gi-hun and the baby can 'vote' to end the game and split the money between themselves. When Gi-hun asks the Front Man, 'Why are you suggesting this?,' In-ho removes his mask, revealing his identity as Player 001 to Gi-hun. Gi-hun is furious and considers killing In-ho with the knife. In-ho tells him it won't change anything: someone else will just take his place. In-ho claims that he is trying to help Gi-hun and the baby, but Gi-hun sees through him. He only wants more bloodshed. He wants to bring Gi-hun down to his level because, otherwise, In-ho has to question everything he has become. As is revealed in flashback, In-ho won his version of the Game by doing exactly what he suggests Gi-hun does: kill the remaining contestants in their sleep. In In-ho's mind, it was the choice anyone would make. But Gi-hun's refusal to take the same path proves In-ho could have made a different choice—he still could. The final round: game of towers The final round in Squid Game Season 3 is brutally simple. The remaining Players must navigate across three massive, tall stone towers. In order to progress to the next tower, they must kill one of the remaining players. At the end, any surviving players will split the money evenly. Heading into the round, Gi-hun and the baby are at a disadvantage. The remaining Players, including Player 100 and Myung-gi, are mostly thugs who care about making as much money as possible more than they do about their fellow contestants' lives. A high Min-su is an easy first target. They make a show of having a 'fair' vote for Min-su's elimination, and Myung-gi does the dirty work of pushing him over the edge to his death. In the next round, Gi-hun puts up much more of a fight. He has the baby to protect, and he has the knife given to him by In-ho. Without Gi-hun as an easy target, the thugs all turn on one another, with Myung-gi particularly brutal and effective. With only four players left—Myung-gi, Gi-hun, the baby, Player 100, and a beaten down Player 039—Myung-gi chooses to push Player 100 over the edge so he can ensure more money for himself. Player 039 chooses to roll over the edge himself, tired of playing the Game. Does Gi-hun die in Squid Game Season 3? Gi-hun dies in the final round of the Game. He makes it to the final tower with the baby and Myung-gi. Myung-gi tries to convince Gi-hun to hand over the baby, but Gi-hun refuses, believing Myung-gi plans on sacrificing his own child. They fight, and Myung-gi falls to his death. Unfortunately, neither men pushed the button signifying the start of the round, so Myung-gi's death does not count as this tower's sacrifice. Gi-hun is left with a terrible choice: kill the baby and survive, or sacrifice himself so that the baby can live. Much to the VIPs' astonishment, he chooses the latter. As they wait for him to kill a newborn, he instead stares them down with the baby in his arms. He cannot see them through their viewing room, but he knows they're there, watching with mild interest. Then, he turns away from them. What he says next isn't for them, it's for us. He kisses the baby and places her on the ground before looking into the camera: 'We are not horses. We are humans.' Then, Player 456, our audience surrogate in this deadly game, falls to his death. In sacrificing his life for the baby, Gi-hun is choosing humanity. He believes even the most vulnerable of humans has inherent worth, and should be protected. He refuses to play by the VIPs' rules, even when it means his own death. Gi-hun's decision shakes the Front Man, who has spent Seasons 2 and 3 trying to convince Gi-hun that humanity isn't worth trying to save. When he reveals his identity to Gi-hun in Episode 4, he asks him: 'Player 456, do you still have faith in people?' With Gi-hun's final choice, In-ho gets his answer. Who wins Squid Game in Season 3? Player 222, a newborn baby, wins the Game. Does Jun-ho see his brother again? Those hoping for a big reunion between Jun-ho (Wi Ha-jun) and his brother, In-ho, might be disappointed by the Squid Game ending. Soon after Gi-hun sacrifices himself, the Korean Coast Guard arrives on the island. They have been sent by Jun-ho, who learned the location of the island after rescuing an escaped Player 246 from the pink soldiers in pursuit. Knowing that the Coast Guard has arrived, In-ho orders the evacuation of the island, and initiates a 30-minute countdown for the facility's destruction. He has to destroy the evidence. The VIPs, of course, escape. Meanwhile, Jun-ho is searching the facility for his brother. He heads into the VIP watchroom just as In-ho makes it to the top of one of the Round 6's towers to retrieve the baby, aka Player 222, aka the winner of the Game. Jun-ho shoots the glass separating the VIPs' watch tower from the game arena, getting In-ho's attention. Jun-ho aims the gun at his brother, but cannot shoot him. In-ho is holding a baby. And, unlike In-ho, Jun-ho probably does not actually want to shoot his brother. Instead, he yells: 'Why? Why did you do it?' In-ho doesn't answer, turning his back and walking away. Six months later, Jun-ho arrives home to find Jun-hee's baby and the Game's winnings delivered to him, presumably left by In-ho. While In-ho may not want to talk to his brother, he seemingly wants him to have a good life. By giving the baby to Jun-ho, he seemingly wants the baby to have a good life, too. Does No-eul survive Squid Game? No-eul not only survives Squid Game, she plays a major role in the Game's downfall. By saving Player 246 so that he can return to his sick daughter, Na-yeon, No-eul sets the events in motion that allow Jun-ho and the Coast Guard to find the island. After helping Player 456 escape, No-eul destroys the evidence that he was ever there. She is sitting in the Front Man's office, prepared to kill herself, when she witnesses Gi-hun's sacrifice. She hears the baby cry, and she decides to live. Six months later, we see No-eul visit Player 246 at the amusement park where he still works as a caricature artist and where she used to work as a costumed performer. He doesn't recognize her as the pink suit soldier who saved his life because she never took her mask off. When Na-yeon arrives, she is happy and healthy. No-eul gifts her a lollipop and tells her not to get sick again. When No-eul is leaving, the refugee broker who helps North Korean defectors try to get their family members out calls No-eul: her daughter might be alive, and in China. Later, No-eul is at the airport, getting ready to board a plane to hopefully see her daughter. It's an echo of the Season 1 ending that saw Gi-hun getting ready to board a plane to see his daughter in Los Angeles. This time, however, the parent will get on the plane. Sae-byeok's brother, Cheol, is reunited with their mother Sae-byeok (Jung Ho-yeon) was one of the most important characters in Squid Game Season 1, and we see her briefly in a cameo. When Gi-hun is at his lowest in Season 3, and is considering slitting his fellow contestants' throats in their sleep, he remembers what Sae-byeok said to him: 'You're not a killer.' Later, we see Sae-byeok's brother, Cheol, at the airport with Sang-woo's mother, who has been taking care of him, and the refugee broker. Sae-byeok went into the Game to get the money to get her parents out of North Korea. Now, her mother is in South Korea, and has been reunited with her brother. The two embrace. They might not have the other members of their family, but they finally have one another. Part of Sae-byeok's wish has come true. The Front Man goes to LA to see Gi-hun's daughter In Season 1, Gi-hun is a deadbeat dad. It's one of the major reasons he goes into the Game in the first place. After winning, Gi-hun plans to go see his daughter, Ga-yeong, but chooses to try to end the Game instead. Following Gi-hun's death, In-ho travels to Los Angeles to see Gi-hun's daughter. When he knocks on the door of the house she lives in with her mom and stepdad, Ga-yeong is angry. She doesn't want to hear about her dad, who she understandably feels abandoned by. When In-ho tells her that her father is dead, she accepts the box of his belongings. Inside, is Gi-hun's bloody Player 456 uniform and a debit card with what is presumably his millions of dollars of winnings. Gi-hun has given his daughter the resourced future he always wanted to, but he isn't there to see it. In-ho didn't have to tell Ga-yeong about her father's death, or give her the money. He also didn't need to deliver it in person. The decision implies he might have been changed by Gi-hun's choice to hold onto his humanity. Could In-ho be poised to choose something different in the future? Cate Blanchett and the Squid Game: America Spin-off In the final scene of the episode, the Front Man is in a car after having dropped off Gi-hun's winnings to his daughter. He happens to hear the sounds of slapping and ddakji coming from a nearby alley, and rolls his window down to investigate. It is a Recruiter, played by Cate Blanchett. She catches the Front Man's eye and acknowledges him before returning to her work. While nothing has been confirmed at the time of this writing, the scene implies that we will see a version of the Game played in America. As we know from Season 1, the Game is played all over the world. In October 2024, sources told Deadline that an English-language Squid Game series was in the works with director David Fincher coming on to develop it. The final scene of Squid Game Season 3 could be the first scene of Squid Game: America. Does Squid Game have a happy ending? Squid Game doesn't have a happy ending because, as it exists now, capitalism doesn't have a happy ending. Still, Hwang leaves us with hope. The final episode of Squid Game is titled 'Humans are…' They are Gi-hun's final words. With them, Hwang is both leaving the statement open-ended for viewers to answer for themselves, as well as giving his own answer with Squid Game itself: Humans are susceptible to corruption, to greed, to vengeance. But we are prone towards caring for one another too, to making sacrifices to protect others, to hoping for something better. Gi-hun doesn't always make the moral choice—we see him murder Player 388 (Kang Ha-neul) out of shame and vengeance in Episode 2, 'Starry Night'—but he tries to be better, even after he has taken a human life. In a system designed to pit him against others, Gi-hun ultimately sides with humanity. It might not be a happy ending, but it's a hopeful one.
Indian Express
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Salman Rushdie just turned 78. What has the ‘Midnight's Children' author been writing lately?
(Written by Taniya Chopra) 'What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.' The words sum up Salman Rushdie. We all know him for Midnight's Children, the book that made him famous, and The Satanic Verses, the novel which caused global outrage and forced him into hiding for years. Rushdie chose to continue writing no matter what. Even after making it through a brutal knife attack in 2022 that made him blind in one eye, he did not step back. Many authors in his place would have completely stopped after such a traumatic event. But his passion did not wither. Here's a look at five of Rushdie's most recent works. 'We would not be who we are today without the calamities of our yesterdays.' Salman Rushdie's most recent work is his memoir, Knife, written after the 2022 knife attack that nearly ended his life. He shows us his trauma and his will to still write. It's honest and it's witty. Unlike his earlier memoir Joseph Anton, this one is written in the first person, making it feel much more personal. Knife is a record of survival and a bold statement on the freedom to speak and write. It gives us rare insight into Rushdie's mind, and shows his unwavering dedication to the written word, even when writing itself becomes an act of defiance. In 14th century South India, nine-year-old Pampa Kampana witnesses her mother walk into 'the bonfire of the dead'. She is blessed with magical powers and a mission to build a world where no woman suffers as her mother did. She builds Bisnaga, a kingdom meant to uplift women in a patriarchal world. Victory City is an imaginative tale about power and the stories that shape civilisations. With beauty and emotion, Rushdie revives a forgotten empire and the extraordinary woman who dreamed it into existence. It's vintage Rushdie, yet strikingly fresh in its voice. This is a collection of essays and speeches written by Salman Rushdie. From Cervantes to Kafka, he explores the writers who shaped his thinking, while tackling themes like censorship, migration, politics and the power of imagination. We get to see what Rushdie thinks of other writers' writing, how their ideas and style show the times they lived in. It shows his thoughts on storytelling and rapidly changing world. With clarity and wit, Languages of Truth is a celebration of literature and a bold reflection on the cultural shifts of our time. Quichotte is a television obsessed, slightly delusional travelling salesman who falls hopelessly in love with a TV star he has never met. Determined to win her heart, he goes on a journey across America with his imaginary son. He faces everything from the opioid crisis to cultural absurdities. But Quichotte isn't acting alone here. He is actually the creation of Sam DuChamp, a struggling writer in the middle of a personal breakdown. The lines between Sam DuChamp, the author and his character blur, as both try to complete their parallel quests. It is a surreal, moving reflection on identity. Inspired by Cervantes' Don Quixote, Rushdie writes a satire of modern America, one that is between reality and illusion. If you enjoy thought provoking books that are entertaining as well, then Quichotte is a must-read. Nero Golden, a billionaire from Bombay, arrives in New York. And what is a billionaire without secrets? With him come his three sons, still trying to understand who he really is. They settle into The Gardens, an elite, enclosed community in Greenwich Village, and instantly disrupt the lives of those around them. Their story is told by René, a filmmaker who becomes fascinated by the Goldens and finds in them the perfect material for his next project. From Nero's romance with a mysterious Russian to the reveal of long-buried secrets, the Goldens' world begins to crack. And, so does the nation around them. This book shows a family and a nation on the verge of transformation. If you're into family dramas and then this is a must-read. (The writer is an intern with
News18
04-06-2025
- General
- News18
Salman Rushdie 'Pleased' That Man Who Attempted To Kill Him Got Maximum 25-Year Sentence
Last Updated: The assailant, Hadi Matar, was sentenced in a New York court for the attempted murder of Rushdie. The attack left the British-Indian author blind in one eye Booker Prize-winning author Sir Salman Rushdie has said he is 'pleased" that the man who brutally attacked him on stage in 2022 has been handed the maximum sentence of 25 years in prison. The assailant, Hadi Matar, was sentenced in a New York court for the attempted murder of Rushdie. The attack left the British-Indian author blind in one eye. Rushdie later documented the event in his 2024 memoir, Knife. Judge David Foley delivered the verdict in Mayville, near where the stabbing occurred. Following the ruling, Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt expressed satisfaction. However, Matar's lawyer, Nathaniel Barone, confirmed that an appeal will be made. Speaking to BBC Radio 4 on Monday, Rushdie said, 'I was pleased that he got the maximum available, and I hope he uses it to reflect upon his deeds." In 1989, Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie's death over alleged blasphemy in his novel The Satanic Verses. Following this, Rushdie went into hiding under British protection and later settled in New York, in the United States. The book was banned in 20 countries. Numerous killings and bombings have been carried out by extremists who cite the book as motivation, sparking a debate about censorship and religiously motivated violence. On August 12, 2022, while about to start a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York, Rushdie was attacked by Matar, who rushed onto the stage and stabbed him repeatedly, including in the face, neck, and abdomen. Matar was pulled away before being taken into custody by a state trooper; Rushdie was airlifted to UPMC Hamot, a tertiary trauma centre in Erie, Pennsylvania, where he underwent surgery before being put on a ventilator. On October 23, 2022, his agent reported that Rushdie had lost sight in one eye and the use of one hand but survived the murder attempt. Watch India Pakistan Breaking News on CNN-News18. Get breaking news, in-depth analysis, and expert perspectives on everything from geopolitics to diplomacy and global trends. Stay informed with the latest world news only on News18. Download the News18 App to stay updated! First Published:
