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Khushwant Singh February 2, 1915—March 20, 2014 Tribune News Service New Delhi, March 20 Known for his humour and an abiding love of poetry, Khushwant spared no one in his famous column ‘With Malice Towards One and All’. He began writing in 1969 and continued to contribute columns to various newspapers, including The Tribune, until recently. His close aides say he would wake up at 4 am and start writing his columns by hand. Full of a zest for life, he wrote about 85 novels. His works range from political commentary and contemporary satire to outstanding translations of Sikh religious texts and Urdu poetry. The author released his last book ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ridiculous’ in October 2013. Khushwant is bound to go down in India’s literary history as one of the finest historians and novelists. Among the several works he published is a classic two-volume ‘A History of the Sikhs’ and some of the best-known novels of all times such as ‘Delhi’, ‘Train to Pakistan’ and ‘The Company of Women’. Khushwant, who always wrote in simple English, promoted jokes in a way no other author before him had ever done. Fond of all good things in life, he enjoyed his evening drink and relished good food until a few months ago. Apart from being a prominent editor of a number of newspapers, magazines and journals, Khushwant was also a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1980 to 1986. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1974 for his service to the nation, but he returned the honour in 1984 in protest against Operation Bluestar at the Golden Temple. Subsequently, he was bestowed with an even higher honour, the Padma Vibhushan, in 2007.An ardent secularist, Khushwant Singh had been very critical of the rise of both Muslim and Hindu fundamentalism in the country. He sharply attacked BJP patriarch LK Advani in 1992 for his role in the demolition of Babri Masjid. He was equally critical of Narendra Modi over the massacre of Muslims in Gujarat in 2002. His famous novel ‘The End of India’ is a damning indictment of the forces of fundamentalism that have raised their ugly head in India. Analysing the 2002 communal violence in Gujarat, the anti-Sikh riots of 1984, the burning of Graham Staines and his children in Odisha and the targeted killings by terrorists in Punjab and Kashmir, Khushwant clearly pointed out how fundamentalism had less to do with religion than with politics. Khushwant Singh was born in 1915 at Hadali, now in Pakistan’s Punjab, in a Sikh family. His father Sir Sobha Singh was a prominent builder in Lutyen’s Delhi. He went to the prestigious Modern School in Delhi and then to St Stephen’s College before moving to the Government College in Lahore. He also studied at King’s College in Cambridge University. He practised law at the Lahore High Court for several years before joining the Ministry of External Affairs in 1947. He got married to Kawal Malik in 1939, but she died in 2001. He is survived by his son Rahul, also a journalist, and daughter Mala. He was the founder-editor of Yojana and also edited The Illustrated Weekly of India, National Herald and Hindustan Times.
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