Anything normal is never a story. That is why most stories end with a declaration, “And they lived happily ever after.” Khushwant Singh (February 2, 1915 – March 20, 2014) was a storyteller and a creator of stories in everything that he did. For every admirer who he dazzled with his wit and knowledge of Urdu poetry, he created an equal number of critics who found his obsession with women, scotch and sex, somewhat crass. I suspect he raised hackles because it is not common to see someone in his nineties talk about subjects that the majority discusses in hushed tones in private. That’s what made him the subject of many stories and so much controversy.I will always remember him for what he made of The Illustrated Weekly – a magazine he edited for almost a decade. From being a politically correct but boring magazine, he turned it into a magazine that would “inform, shock and abuse” with the greatest glee. This is where I got introduced to the work of RK Laxman and his caricatures. This is where I first entered the world of Mario’s cartoon characters – Ms Rajni Nimboopani and Ms Fonseca. I would spend hours trying to copy their work and teach myself how to draw cartoons. This is where I read the short stories of Manto, Ismat Chugtai and the poems of the best known and unknown poets from the world over. The magazine would have liberal doses of poetry, limericks, bawdy jokes, cartoon strips, glamorous photos, short stories and essays that would provoke thought and debate in every drawing room and many bed rooms.When I wrote my first novel Mediocre But Arrogant, The Illustrated Weekly and Khushwant Singh featured in it.
“Rusty was the only one who was unconcerned. He was calmly flipping through the ‘What the Stars Foretell’ column by Peter Vidal in The Illustrated Weekly of India.I used to kind of believe in what these forecasts had to say. Not believe like a missionary or something, but a sort of firm yet casual belief. I would read the forecasts for Scorpio for myself and any other sign as well, depending on the star sign of the girl I was trying to pursue that week.Until Rusty shattered my faith. One day he told me that Peter Vidal was a fictitious character and that there was no astrologer by that name. That was hogwash that Khushwant Singh wrote himself.”
Khushwant Singh was a self-proclaimed agnostic. He wrote Agnostic Khushwant: There is no God and then again this is the same man who wrote The History of Sikhs 1469-1839 and The History of Sikhs (1839-2004) and several more. In politics, he supported Indira Gandhi during the Emergency and earned the ire of Khalistan supporters who hated him enough to put him on their hit list.While I was very familiar with his columns, a few short stories and jokes, it is The Train to Pakistan that actually introduced me to Khushwant Singh, the person. The vivid imagery of the village Mano Majra and the horrors of Partition have stayed with me since.He was unafraid to voice his opinions. He was unafraid to show off his women friends turning many others green with envy. He was unafraid to share his contradictions. After the 1984 riots, he returned the Padma Bhushan as a mark of protest, ten years after he was given the honor. The government honored him with an even higher honor Padma Vighushan in 2007.I hope he will continue writing his column “With Malice Towards One and All” <click here> and send the angels scurrying for cover with his irreverence. He was a great mentor to young writers – something very few noted authors have done. I am not surprised that he passed away on 20th March – that is after all World Storytelling Day. That’s a fitting way for a storyteller to go to the next gig.I hope you will enjoy this interview with Khushwant Singh:http://youtu.be/JomtW8hCjME—————–Join me on twitter @AbhijitBhaduriFirst published in Times of India blogs on 22 March 2014