A Tribute To Kushwant Singh Poem by M D Dinesh Nair

Note: This is a tribute paid to the Indian writer, journalist and humourist Kushwanth Singh of A TRAIN TO PAKISTAN fame who died on March 20,2014 in New Delhi.

THAT BIG FUNNY MAN IS NO MORE….

We those who have read and heard you often
We those who heard of you much oftener
And we who have written on you at times
Believe in unison that one more star has fallen dead
From the firmament of Venuses not many and
We Salute you dear Sardarji …….

You were the funniest Indian writer in English,
You were the happiest Indian journalist for long
And you were the most trenchant secularist ever.
We salute you dear blunt man with a sharp nib.
India can no more boast of your being around us
And she is deprived of a writer with true mettle.

Your jokes still make us go mad with loud laughter and
Your sharp wits make us sit and wonder.
We salute you dear Sardarji of all Sardarjiees.
No respecter of reputations nor a worshipper of the God of any mould
Nor a crusader of a community in vain
Sardarji, you were there the Sikh of all Sikhs ever.

A man in women`s company you were
A man in their minds causing no ripples yet
A man in men`s debates you were
But never in their disregards ever at all.
Dear KS, you are now gone for ever
Digging a deep vacuum in our Intellectual circles.

A TRAIN TO PAKISTAN you wrote on the heels of the India Partition,
A HISTORY OF THE SIKHS you wrote to tell how you differed from the HINDUS
And WHY I SUPPORTED THE EMERGENCY you wrote to repent later.
Dear KS, your train unto fame will never halt anywhere
We salute you for your being with us all these 99 years
And GOOD BYE dear Sardarji…..