This is a personal account of the ‘Dialogue’ with V. S. Naipaul at Makerere on March 20. As a writer myself I have omitted his title at places. At the meeting it was obligatory. Strange: He was vehement he would never accept a knighthood. When he was criticised for accepting it, he defended that he wasn’t going to use it.
One goes to a function like that – billed as a ‘Dialogue’ – out of a vague feeling that one might learn something; or the famous man might say something memorable. Lady Naipaul, his second wife, saw to it that nothing of the sort happened, acting as his cheer-leader throughout the afternoon, and at points usurping to herself the role of the chairperson. In most cases her sense of the cheer-able did not accord with the audience’s and her chairship was dictatorial.
More: allAfrica.com: Uganda: A Meeting With Nobel Laureate V.S. Naipaul.
Ismailimail 