At the very outset, I submit a column is not enough to congratulate and celebrate one of India’s finest, best-known and most prolific writer and columnist, Mr. Khushwant Singh. No matter how much I try, and nothing holds me back from penning down an accolade to honour India’s ‘grand old man of letters’.
In his book, Absolute Khushwant, he writes, rather unequivocally, about his own death. He visualizes his own obituary written in 1943 while he was still in his 20s! Where he imagines The Tribune announcing his death on its front page with a small photograph and the headline would read, ‘Sardar Khushwant Singh dead’. We’re in 2014 and India’s most loved writer enters his 100th year of existence on planet earth with a blast! The prophecy of ‘Raj Karega Khalsa’ has come true, and abracadabra! Singh is ruling- with his fountain pen.
Having ticked off almost 100 years of celebrated existence, Khushwant Singh has been an observant bystander to the making of most public and (private) histories than most of us have ever heard or read about. An illustrious career, spanning more than half a century, he was the founder editor of Yojana, the editor of the Illustrated weekly, National Herald and the Hindustan Times. He is the man behind eternal classics like Train to Pakistan, I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale and Delhi-a novel. His non-fiction comprises the classic two-volume A History of the Sikhs, a number of translations and well-researched works on Sikh religion and culture, the city where his heart lies-Delhi, his passion-nature, current affairs and Urdu poetry.
Usually autobiographies tend to be particularly tiresome and drab where the writer is hell bent on putting on a ‘holier than thou attitude’ and providing justifications about his much publicized ‘colossal mistakes’. Not Khushwant Singh. Here is a man who is not ‘just what the doctor ordered’ and is only glad to admit that. His autobiography, Truth, Love and a little malice, is at it’s candid best and truly an ingenuous piece of work.
Khushwant Singh, you can hate the man or love him, but you can’t ignore him. What makes Singh so special? His style of writing-armed with impeccable repartee, splendid candor and malicious gossip, he does not apologize for what he writes. At no point does he shy away from admitting his own fears and faults. He writes straight from the heart, no wonder he is the heartbeat of millions today. Happy Birthday, Khushwant Singh!
filmbuff100 