Khushwant Singh: A Study In His Biography Poem by Bijay Kant Dubey

Khushwant Singh, born in Hadali on 2 Feb.,1915,
Under Khushab District, Punjab (now Pakistan) ,
In a Sikh family,
The son of Sir Sobha Singh,
Was educated at Modern School, New Delhi,
St.Stephen’s College, Delhi,
Government College, Lahore,
King’s College, London
And called to the bar at the Inner Temple.

After having practised law for some years
At Lahore Court,
They moved to India
And in 1947, he joined the Foreign Service
In various capacities,
As Information Officer of the Govt. of India in Toronto,
Press Attaché and Public Officer
For the Indian High Commission
In London and Ottawa,
Working in the Department of Mass Communications
Of the UNESCO in Paris,
All India Radio as a journalist.

In 1956, he turned to editorial assignments
And edited the Yojana, the Illustrated Weekly of India,
The National Herald, the Hindustan Times,
From 1980 to 86, had been a member of the Rajya Sabha
He had been an establishment liberal,
Supported the emergency too
But was disturbed as for the siege of the Golden Temple, Amritsar
In 1984
And returned the award given by the Govt.,
Again, he got hurt
When the anti-Sikh riots broke out
In the aftermath of India’s assassination.

A recipient of several prizes and awards,
Padma Bhushan in 1974,
Honest Man of the Year, Sulabh International in 2000,
Punjab Rattan award, the Govt. of Punjab in 2006,
Padma Vibhushan in 2007,
Fellow of King’s College, London in 2014
And others,
Khushwant Singh is also known as
A novelist, a short story writer, an essayist,
A columnist, a journalist,
A historian and a translator.

A writer he had been always in the line of fire,
Earning a trenchant for biting satire
And secularism,
Though not a politician
But politicked he sometimes,
A journo he knew the politics
Of coming into light
And doing politics,
Fearless and undaunted
In his acerbic attacks,
Using fun and humour
As his tools
To keep hale and hearty,
One doing caricature,
Drinking, joking and making fun of
Even though was sober and serious
And this the range of gossips and idle chats.


A long-living writer, for him,
The whole century had been the canvas of his,
An album of pictures and images, ideas and trends,
A gallery of faces,
Portraits and images,
Those in art, science, theatre
And he taking them up,
Recollecting the meets and visits,
Giving time to friendships and get-togethers
And some meeting him
Over the lunch time,
Partaking of the drink
And adhering to hilarity
And the coluring and painting of the mood
And as a satirist he learnt from life
Which taught him
And the experiences of it
Rather than being scholastic
As his career shows it to be.

As a writer, he is but a satirist,
A laugher,
Laughing and joking
And commenting
And in his mockery was the aesthetic sense of art,
The art of satire and criticism,
Literature as the criticism of life,
The element of fun, pun and humour,
The art of humour and the humorist
And he deriving from
To correct and comment,
To say them ironically
As humour was the forte of his,
The feast,
To engage and entertain
The art of the gossip-master,
The great old talker,
Holding the hand,
Conversing with.

Something of travels and tours,
The Punjab, Lahore and Delhi
And London,
Of Paris and Ottawa,
Something of migration and domicile,
His birth, rearing,
Attachment and departure,
Schooling and profession,
Discovery of Punjab
And the history of Sikhism,
Art and architecture,
Knowledge and wisdom, thought and idea,
Conversation and gossip,
Reminiscence and recollection,
He carries with him,
A writer of male domination,
Love, sex and relationship
Combined with drinks and jokes,
A drinker’s verse lying on the table.

As a short story writer of
The Mark of Vishnu and Other Stories,1950,
The Voice of God and Other Stories,1957,
A Bride for the Sahib and Other Stories,1967,
A novelist of Train to Pakistan,1956,
I Shall Not Hear The Nightingale,1959,
Delhi: A Novel,1990,
The Company of Women,1999,
As an autobiographer of
Truth, Love and a Little Malice,2002,
A historian with the titles
The History of Sikhs,1953,
Ranjit Singh: The Maharajah of the Punjab,1963,
And others,
He is prolific and wide-ranging.

A writer as controversial as Thomas Hardy,
D.H.Lawrence and G.B.Shaw,
He had been of his stance,
A Kubla Khan and Omar Khayyam
Of his type,
Talking about wine and the company of women,
Kisses and misses,
Wine, sex and literature,
Leaking out
The extra-marital affair and live-in relationship
Or enlightening,
Sometimes making a reference
Of the women loved and lost
And the women lodging casing against him
As for skirmishes or jokes,
Mystified or understandable,
Saucy, salty and spiced
For literature and popularity sake.

Instead of being a great a comedian,
A caricature-doer,
A satirist in verse,
A writer controversial
And politicking,
Drinking and feeling
The pleasures of writing
He was sarcastic and sardonic,
Honest and confessional,
A romantic
And this the portrait of an artist
As a young man
And he was
Apart from being the grand old man of letters,
The Great Sardarji,
I mean the Lion of Punjab,
Mr. Khushwant Singh.

Though the critics of his may charge
With a libel,
As for the sleaze
May designate him,
The dirty old man of literature,
As he knows not
To rein in
And instead keeps on saying
Whatever it comes to his mouth,
Love, sex or friendship,
A writer earning the sobriquet of
Eat, drink and be merry,
He draws from the theory of consumption,
Hedonism and consumerism,
The bottle the source of his inspiration,
His Muse and the moonstruck,
Cupid-hit heart
And after having drunk,
He hearing thumri, ghazal and shayari,
Old wine drenching slowly
And classical music too going on slowly.

A lover of controversies, which never left him behind,
Followed him wherever went he,
A drinker drank he wine
And the varieties of it,
Telling about tastes and flavours,
Drank it himself,
Made others too,
Keeping the company of,
Tried to blackmail
Or got he blackmailed,
Wanted he to be a politician,
But fell short of,
A reader, a commentator,
A critic of life,
He was,
Mr.Khushwant Singh
The man and writer,
The journo and the politico
As he knew the politics of
Being in the limelight
Dodging the age
Gossiped he about
Love, sex and company.