I love that man for writing his latest novel. The following only helps: I have had some pressure from other people to pull out of my event because "of the damage to your reputation", but I do not feel that my reputation is so fragile that it will be damaged, nor so precious that for its sake I would walk away from a friend in trouble.
We often come across quarrels wherein both parties may be right and it is only a shift in perspective and argument that shifts the blame. I don't know the truth (or for that matter even the facts) for Kitab, but it seems to me like one of those quarrels (though it might not be and one of the parties may be culpable).
P.S.: Neither pessimistic nor optimistic, it is very hard to be journalistic. I dunno how you tread the tightrope.
I was there at Kitab 2007... all through the event. Didn't see any pro-British slant. Yes, we were very hospitable, and all Indians would be proud of this aspect of their cultural heritage — well, apparently not all.
Another typically Indian thing about all this mud-slinging is the timing. Just on the eve of Kitab 2008. Correct me if I am wrong, if some Ganguly or the other didn't pay me, I would be after him, hound him, serve him ultimatums, drag him to court. What I would NOT do is wait for an entire year and then do some very public breast-beating.
But in retrospect, that's so Indian. By the way, before some crackpot accuses me of being one of those preferentially-treated Brits, let me clarify. I am very much Indian, though occasionally ashamed to be so.