Khushwant Singh: A Man of versatility

Khushwant Singh passed away at 99. As former Miss India, actress and AAP candidate for 2014 Lok Sabha polls Gul Panag tweeted 'what a man, what a life', he was a perfectly different sort of novelist and journalist. Dissimilar his stares, he had no scholarly pretentions. He was careless both in what he expressed and what he penned. As he himself stated he was an accidental writer. Though he wanted to be a prominent lawyer but failed and later started some odd government jobs both abroad and in India.

Singh's stint with monthly magazine focusing on socio-economic issues of India 'Yojana' made him a journalist. Later he went on to edit 'Illustrated Weekly of India' and 'Hindustan Times'. He had a close immediacy with the corridors of power. He was very close to Indira Gandhi and was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1980.

As we all know, Khushwant Singh was a controversial figure all his life. The writer just fond of wine, women and chitchats made him a cult figure and he earned both fans and foes in abundance. A secular to the boot, Singh penned and spoke against the RSS, BJP and Shiv Sena. He was a firm believer that parties rooted in religion would rip down the country like India. His openness made him an extremely detested figure among the conformist and rightwing partisans. But, 'dirty old man of Indian media and literary world' never worried about such people and their criticisms.

'Delhi' a novel by Khushwant Singh received many awards, which was translated into several languages. "The Indian author Amitava Ghosh says Mr. Singh, a man of versatile personality. He was a columnist, novelist, social-political commentator, critic, historian and a great raconteur. Mr. Ghosh also explains that his books on Sikhism are measured some of the best books based on the religion and its history.

He hardly ever changed his views on people. He was an ardent supporter of the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. He described him as the most sincere and honest man in Indian politics. He even retained the critics of Manmohan Singh. Of course, our prime minister was the first political leader to condole his death.

More than a couple years ago, he decided to stop his pen. But, some weeks later, he again started writing his columns. He remarkably joked that no one had made-up a condom for his pen! He attained all he wanted to attain in his life. With almost 100 books under his belt, the editor equally respected his weekly columns which defiantly spared none from his deliberate “malice”. These columns were extensively followed and kicked up quite a few controversies.

There was also a very stern feature to Khushwant Singh. Even with openly declaring to be a non-follower of any religious ceremony, he wrote more about the past of Sikhs and translated more Sikh scriptures than any other Sikh novelist. The writer took his religion seriously though. He was deeply hurt when his son cut his hair, but candidly expressed that in the 21st century the community has no reason in ongoing these symbols apart from for the fact that they carry a “sense of belonging” towards the community.