General Pervez Musharraf Carpet-bombs New Delhi With In The Line Of Fire

He is one of the most despised men in India. He is seen by many Indians as a mischievous, dishonest, insincere man who betrayed their country when they offered a hand of genuine friendship to Pakistan in 1999. He is viewed by many Indian think-tanks as an untrustworthy ruler who at various times referred to terrorists striking Indian cities as committed freedom fighters.

Mushie on Sale, In Delhi's Midland Book Shop

Musharraf of Indian Minds

General Pervez Musharraf is demonized by the Hindu fundamentalists for being the aggressive head of a Muslim Pakistan, disliked by the liberal intelligentsia for hurting the cause of democracy, feared by the Muslim minority for being the unintentional victims of his frequent irresponsible anti-Indian statements, doubted for his true intentions by the defense establishment, and sighed upon by the Indian leaders for his penchant of offering peace ideas through media than through the diplomatic channels.

For most of the Indians, Mr. Musharraf is also a man who heads a government that shelter and supports the terrorist activities of what India sees as its own Osama Bin Laden - a gangster called Dawood Ibrahim. Mr. Ibrahim is believed to have masterminded a series of single-day bomb blasts in the financial hot spots of Bombay in 1993 that left more than three hundred dead and one thousand injured. That 'Black Friday' remains the worst terrorist attack in India's history. It was South Asia's very own 9/11!

General Pervez Musharraf is a man whom Indians love to hate.

Hate That Helps the Hateful

On the closing of the second day of the release of Mr. Musharraf's memoirs, the day his autobiography climbed to No. 2 in Amazon.com, it had already swept the Delhi bookshops clean. Eight thousand copies were imported into India and all were sold out or booked in advance by the day's end. Four thousand more copies have been ordered by the publishers Simon and Schuster. Normally the company brings around two thousand copies in total of a new hardcover book into India.

The publisher is also producing a Hindi print run of five thousand copies for the first time. The Hindi translation is to be called Agnipath which happens to be the title of an iconic film starring Amitabh Bachchan - Bollywood's biggest movie star.

Sorry, It's Sold Out

Many Indian prime ministers, presidents and army chiefs, after retiring from their posts, have written autobiographies, poetry and reminiscences. But no one managed to create as much hype as Mr Musharraf has done in the spate of a week. A week so Musharraf-infested that he was merely a switch away from a TV remote, and only an ear-shot away from cafe conversations.

No in-house Indian memoirs created so much hype as this next door despot's has. The ghost-written autobiography could as well be described as the Harry Potter of the season.

And this was just the second day of the book's life! Actually, it must be considered the first in India since the customs had blocked the copies during the airport on the first day of its release.

The Secret of Musharraf's Magic

According to Mr Devi of Midland Book Shop in New Delhi's South Extension Market, "We sold seventy copies in just one hour. Normally we give twenty percent discount but since there is a shortage of this book, we are selling at the listed price." The book is priced at 950 rupees, expensive for even upper class Indians.

'Everyone is obsessed with this book. We are getting phone orders from small cities too. It has been a sellout." said Ms Alka, a shop assistant of the Bahri Book Shop in the upscale Khan Market.

Ms Priya Dua, who was buying the book in the Midland, said, "Musharaf has something in him. He is very smart. I hate him when I see him on TV but I wish he was our prime minister."

"It is stupid not to buy the book just because he has written lies concerning India." said an elderly shopper (he refused to give his name) who was flipping through the book in Midland. "Musharraf would have been mad to tell the truth. After all, he has to retain power in Pakistan. Whatever we may say about this man, he definitely has the best interest of his country in his heart".

Ms Sweety Anand, a graduate student browsing books in the Bahri, remarked: "I had come to buy Musharraf but I'm not sure. I'm not interested in politics. But it is Musharraf.."

However it was Mr Anuj Bahri, the owner of the Khan Market book shop, who put it best: "He's Musharraf, he's controversial, and he's well known — what more do you need to sell a book?"

Love him or hate him, no one in Delhi is indifferent to this Delhi-born dictator.