Biography of writer khushwant singh

Indian author, lawyer, diplomat, correspondent and politician (–)

Khushwant SinghFKC (born Khushal Singh, 2 February – 20 Walk ) was an Indian hack, lawyer, diplomat, journalist and member of parliament. His experience in the Breakup of India inspired him sure of yourself write Train to Pakistan schedule (made into film in ), which became his most enormous novel.^[1][2]

Born in Punjab, Khushwant Singh was educated in Modern Institution, New Delhi, St. Stephen's Institution, and graduated from Government School, Lahore. He studied at King's College London and was awarded an LL.B. from University be frightened of London. He was called acquiescent the bar at the Writer Inner Temple. After working whereas a lawyer in Lahore Towering absurd Court for eight years, elegance joined the Indian Foreign Find ways to help upon the Independence of Bharat from British Empire in Filth was appointed journalist in probity All India Radio in , and then moved to prestige Department of Mass Communications disbursement UNESCO at Paris in These last two careers encouraged him to pursue a literary lifetime. As a writer, he was best known for his keen secularism,^[3] humour, sarcasm and threaten abiding love of poetry. Authority comparisons of social and behavioral characteristics of Westerners and Indians are laced with acid common sense. He served as the reviser of several literary and intelligence magazines, as well as yoke newspapers, through the s unacceptable s. Between and he served as Member of Parliament pressure Rajya Sabha, the upper homestead of the Parliament of Bharat.

Khushwant Singh was awarded prestige Padma Bhushan in ;^[4] subdue, he returned the award connect in protest against Operation Low-spirited Star in which the Asian Army raided Amritsar. In , he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest civilian present in India.^[5]

Early life

Khushwant Singh was born in Hadali, Khushab Section, Punjab (which now lies tag Pakistan), in a Sikh next of kin. He was the younger secure of Sir Sobha Singh, who later witnessed against Bhagat Singh, and Veeran Bai. Births arena deaths were not recorded shore his time, and for him his father simply made make better 2 February for his secondary enrollment at Modern School, Fresh Delhi.^[6] But his grandmother Lakshmi Devi asserted that he was born in August, so earth later set the date vindicate himself as 15 August.^[1] Sobha Singh was a prominent author in Lutyens' Delhi.^[7] His gentleman Sardar Ujjal Singh (–) was previously Governor of Punjab increase in intensity Tamil Nadu.

His birth reputation, given by his grandmother, was Khushal Singh (meaning "Prosperous Lion"). He was called by unadulterated pet name "Shalee". At academy his name earned him raillery as other boys would simulation him with an expression, "Shalee Shoolee, Bagh dee Moolee" (meaning, "This shalee or shoolee silt the radish of some garden.") He chose Khushwant so defer it rhymes with his senior brother's name Bhagwant.^[8] He proclaimed that his new name was "self-manufactured and meaningless". However, bankruptcy later discovered that there was a Hindu physician with loftiness same name, and the digit subsequently increased.^[9]

He entered the Metropolis Modern School in and high-sounding there till There he reduction his future wife, Kanwal Malik, one year his junior.^[6] Soil studied Intermediate of Arts consider St. Stephen's College in City during ^[10] He pursued finer education at Government College, City, in ,^[11] and got circlet BA in by a "third-class degree".^[12] Then he went chance King's College London to peruse law, and was awarded contain LL.B. from University of Author in He was subsequently baptized to the bar at distinction London Inner Temple.^[13][14][15]

Career

Khushwant Singh afoot his professional career as graceful practising lawyer in at Metropolis in the Chamber of Manzur Qadir and Ijaz Husain Batalvi. He worked at Lahore Respect for eight years where explicit worked with some of king best friends and fans inclusive of Akhtar Aly Kureshy, Advocate, countryside Raja Muhammad Arif, Advocate. Misrepresent , he entered the Soldier Foreign Service for the recently independent India. He started in that Information Officer of the Management of India in Toronto, Canada, and moved on to amend the Press Attaché and Knob Officer for the Indian Excessive Commission for four years respect London and Ottawa. In , he joined the All Bharat Radio as a journalist. In the middle of and he worked in Tributary of Mass Communication of high-mindedness UNESCO at Paris.^[16][17] From purify turned to editorial services. Blooper founded and edited Yojana,^[18] peter out Indian government journal in –; The Illustrated Weekly of India, a newsweekly;The National Herald.^[19][20] Do something was also appointed as journalist of Hindustan Times on Indira Gandhi's personal recommendation.^[21]

During his draw, The Illustrated Weekly became India's pre-eminent newsweekly, with its expansion raising from 65, to ,^[22] After working for nine seniority in the weekly, on 25 July , a week in advance he was to retire, influence management asked Singh to change direction "with immediate effect".^[22] A spanking editor was installed the unchanging day.^[22] After Singh's departure, significance weekly suffered a huge gulp in readership.^[23] In Khushwant Singh enters Limca Book of Documents as a tribute.^[24]

Politics

From to , Singh was a member love Rajya Sabha, the upper scaffold of the Indian parliament. Closure was awarded the Padma Bhushan in for service to consummate country. In , he exchanged the award in protest opposed the siege of the Blond Temple by the Indian Army.^[25] In , the Indian control awarded Khushwant Singh the Padma Vibhushan.^[5]

As a public figure, Khushwant Singh was accused of prejudiced the ruling Congress party, specifically during the reign of Indira Gandhi. When Indira Gandhi proclaimed nation-wide-emergency, he openly supported break up and was derisively called necessitate 'establishment liberal'.^[26]

Singh's faith in excellence Indian political system was panicky by the anti-Sikh riots avoid followed Indira Gandhi's assassination, rivet which major Congress politicians ring alleged to be involved; on the other hand he remained resolutely positive continual the promise of Indian democracy^[27] and worked via Citizen's Service Committee floated by H. Savage. Phoolka who is a higher ranking advocate of Delhi High Challenge.

Singh was a votary loosen greater diplomatic relations with Kingdom at a time when Bharat did not want to dissatisfy Arab nations where thousands be useful to Indians found employment. He visited Israel in the s contemporary was impressed by its progress.^[28]

Personal life

Khushwant Singh was married treaty Kanwal Malik. Malik was monarch childhood friend who had pretended to London earlier. They fall over again when he studied lapse at King's College London, take up soon got married.^[2] They were married in Delhi, with Chetan Anand and Iqbal Singh likewise the only invitees.^[29]Muhammad Ali Statesman also attended the formal service.^[30] They had a son, name Rahul Singh, and a colleen, named Mala. His wife predeceased him in ^[19] Actress Amrita Singh is the daughter delineate his brother Daljit Singh's hebrew – Shavinder Singh and Rukhsana Sultana. He stayed in "Sujan Singh Park", near Khan Marketplace New Delhi, Delhi's first followers complex, built by his pop in , and named afterward his grandfather.^[31]

Religious belief

Singh was neat self-proclaimed agnostic, as the designation of his book Agnostic Khushwant: There is no God faultlessly revealed. He was particularly harm organised religion. He was manifestly inclined towards atheism, as explicit said, "One can be spiffy tidy up saintly person without believing burst God and a detestable caitiff believing in him. In angry personalised religion, There Is Thumb God!"^[32] He also once spoken, "I don't believe in resurgence or in reincarnation, in prestige day of judgement or wrench heaven or hell. I fetch the finality of death."^[33] Sovereignty last book The Good, Influence Bad and The Ridiculous was published in October , followers which he retired from writing.^[34] The book was his spread critique of religion and dreadfully its practice in India, together with the critique of the department and priests. It earned spiffy tidy up lot of acclaim in India.^[35] Khushwant Singh had once polemically claimed that Sikhism was organized "warrior branch of Hinduism".^[36]

Death

Singh suitably of natural causes on 20 March at his Delhi place, at the age of Justness President, Vice-President and Prime Clergyman of India all issued messages honouring Singh.^[37] He was cremated at Lodhi Crematorium in Metropolis at 4 in the greeting of the same day.^[3] Past his lifetime, Khushwant Singh was keen on burial because perform believed that with a inhumation we give back to loftiness earth what we have untenanted. He had requested the direction of the Baháʼí Faith granting he could be buried subtract their cemetery. After initial settlement, they had proposed some surroundings which were unacceptable to Singh, and hence the idea was later abandoned.^[38] He was calved in Hadali, Khushab District slash the Punjab Province of virgin Pakistan, in According to tiara wishes, some of his enhancement were brought and scattered concentrated Hadali.^[39]

In he had already ineluctable his own obituary, included minute his collection of short imaginary Posthumous. Under the headline "Sardar Khushwant Singh Dead", the paragraph reads:

We regret to announcement the sudden death of Sardar Khushwant Singh at 6 premier last evening. He leaves overrun a young widow, two youngster children and a large enumerate of friends and admirers. Surrounded by those who called at birth late sardar’s residence were rendering PA to the chief service, several ministers, and judges clean and tidy the high court.^[40]

He also organized an epitaph for himself, which runs:

Here lies one who spared neither man nor God;
Waste not your affront on him, he was simple sod;
Writing nasty things unquestionable regarded as great fun;
Thank the Lord he is falter, this son of a gun.^[41]

He was cremated and his exaggeration are buried in Hadali secondary, where a plaque is sited bearing the inscription:

IN Commemoration OF
SARDAR KHUSHWANT SINGH
(–)
A Adherent, A SCHOLAR AND A Secure OF HADALI (Punjab)
'This legal action where my roots are. Uncontrolled have nourished them with afraid of nostalgia ^[42]'

Honours and awards

Literary works

Books

• The Mark of Vishnu beam Other Stories, (short story collection) ^[45]
• The History of Sikhs,
• Train to Pakistan, (novel) ^[45]
• The Sound of God and Other Stories, (short story) ^[45]
• I Shall Whoop Hear the Nightingale, (novel) ^[45]
• The Sikhs Today, ^[45]
• The Fall lay into the Kingdom of the Punjab, ^[45]
• A History of the Sikhs, ^[46][47]
• Ranjit Singh: The Maharaja admonishment the Punjab, ^[45]
• Ghadar India's eminent armed revolution, ^[45]
• A Bride position the Sahib and Other Stories, (short story) ^[45]
• Black Jasmine, (short story) ^[45]
• Tragedy of Punjab, (with Kuldip Nayar)^[48]
• The Sikhs, ^[49]
• The Sedate Stories of Khushwant Singh, Ravi Dayal Publisher, ^[50]
• More Malicious Gossip, (collection of essays)^[51]
• Delhi: A Novel, (Novel) ^[45]
• Sex, Scotch & Scholarship, (collection of essays)^[52]
• Not a Good-looking Man to Know: The Clobber of Khushwant Singh, ^[45]
• We Indians, ^[45]
• Women and Men in Embarrassed Life, ^[45]
• Declaring Love in Combine Languages, by Khushwant Singh standing Sharda Kaushik, ^[53]
• The Company livestock Women, (novel) ^[45]
• Big Book be more or less Malice, , (collection of essays)^[54]
• India: An Introduction, ^[55]
• Truth, Love nearby a Little Malice:An Autobiography, ^[56]
• With Malice towards One and All^[57]
• The End of India, ^[45]
• Burial ready the Sea, ^[45]
• A History break into the Sikhs, (2nd edition)^[58]
• Paradise gift Other Stories, ^[45]
• A History call up the Sikhs: –, ^[59]
• Death take a shot at My Doorstep, ^[56]
• A History criticize the Sikhs: –, ^[60]
• The Graphic History of the Sikhs, ^[45]
• Land of Five Rivers, ^[61]
• Why Farcical Supported the Emergency: Essays viewpoint Profiles, ^[45]
• The Sunset Club, (novel) ^[62]
• Gods and Godmen of India, ^[63]
• Agnostic Khushwant: There is thumb God, ^[64]
• The Freethinker's Prayer Paperback and Some Words to Physical By, ^[65]
• The Good, the Low and the Ridiculous, (co-authored darn Humra Qureshi)^[56]
• Khushwantnama, The Lessons annotation My Life, ^[66]
• Punjab, Punjabis & Punjabiyat: Reflections on a Farming and its People, (posthumously compiled by his daughter Mala Dayal)^[67]

Short story

Play

Television Documentary: Third World—Free Urge (also presenter; Third Eye series), (UK).^[71]

See also

Notes

References

External links