WITH the death of Khushwant Singh, an eminent author and journalist, as also a man of many parts, at 99, India is poorer in more ways than one. His countless admirers, Indians and foreigners, young and old, will miss the joy which even a brief encounter with him always was. He also provided a lot of hilarity to his readers by making himself out to be what
he most certainly wasn’t: a drunkard and a ladies’ man. He was basically a serious individual devoted to his work. This ultimately turned out to be full-time writing after brief
interludes as a diplomat at first, and then as a teacher, first at the Law College, Lahore, and then, at Princeton. He also loved to describe himself as the ‘greatest freeloader’ because of the huge number of invitations he used to get from foreign countries by governments or literary institutions.
Khushwant Singh’s collected works would fill more than a sizeable shelf in a library. But even if he had written only three books – a two-volume history of the Sikhs and his first novel, ‘Train to Pakistan’ – his impact as an author would have been immense.
Born into a very wealthy family – his father, Sir Sobha Singh, was one of the ten contractors that built Lutyens’ Delhi and was a member of the Central Legislative Assembly during the British days – Khushwant did not really need a job. But he was determined to earn his keep. After finishing school and college in Delhi, he went to England, where he stayed a long time and was called to the Bar. On his return home, he taught law at the Law College, Lahore. But he was soon persuaded to go back to London as press attache to the High Commissioner, Krishna Menon, whom Khushwant disliked and wrote scathingly against during the years Menon was defence minister and Jawaharlal Nehru’s Man Friday. From Britain, he was transferred to to Canada. He then resigned from the government and joined the UNESCO in Paris, where he wrote his first book of short stories.
It was on his return home shortly thereafter that he decided to make writing his whole-time vocation. He worked in All India Radio and afterwards, as editor of the Planning Commission’s weekly journal, ‘Yojna.’ It was as the editor of the ‘Illustrated Weekly of India’
(1969-77), a magazine in the Times of India stable, that he achieved international fame, by converting an unknown journal into the country’s most influential and serious newsweekly, with a constantly rising circulation.
Thereafter, he never looked back, even though there was a brief rough patch in his life. He had not only supported the Emergency – Indira Gandhi’s monumental mistake – but also gave great play to Sanjay Gandhi and the forced vasectomies the tactless young man
had unleashed. The Janata Government was naturally hostile to him, and the owners of the Times sent him out rather roughly. Soon enough, Indira and Sanjay were back in power. Khushwant was invited to become the editor of Hindustan Times and was also nominated member of the Rajya Sabha. After retirement from there, his weekly column became the most popular with both the publications and the people. It is a pity that he did not last another year.
Inder malhotra
