THIS ABOVE ALL
God and faith
Khushwant Singh Khushwant Singh

A couple of weeks ago, I got a call from Rajmohan Gandhi, saying he and his wife Usha would like to call on me any time that suited me. As any Indian would, I felt very flattered that Bapu Gandhi’s grandson, also a descendant of C. Rajagopalachari, should want to see me. I invited both of them to come the next evening at 7 pm and have a drink with me.

They arrived at the exact time but refused my offer of a drink as both were strict teetotalers. I gave them sharbat. Rajmohan is a strapping six-footer; she, very beautiful. I opened the dialogue by asking him if he had decided to return to India for good. He shook his head and said: "No, I would like to stay in my job in Illinois University. I have retained my flat in Delhi so that we can visit our second home once a year."

I was disappointed as I think he could play an important role in our efforts to eradicate corruption rampant in our society.

Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson Rajmohan Gandhi is also a descendant of C. Rajagopalachari
Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson Rajmohan Gandhi is also a descendant of C. Rajagopalachari

I came to know of Rajmohan Gandhi when he was leading the Moral Rearmament Movement in India and editing the magazine, Himmat. Rajmohan has written several definitive biographies of Indian leaders, including those of his grandfather, Bapu Gandhi, and Rajagopalachari. He has also written biographies of Ghaffar Khan and Vallabhbhai Patel. He fought an election of the Lok Sabha, which he lost. I was in close touch with him when he was editing Indian Express from Madras. I was in Washington on a three-month grant from the Wilson Centre of the Smithsonian to update my two-volume History of the Sikhs. He asked me
to write an article on my faith. I complied and spelt out why I was agnostic and did not believe in the existence of God.

A few days later, I received a letter, which went somewhat as follows: "Dear Uncle, I read in Daddy’s paper that you think God does not exist. You are wrong. God visits us everyday. He talks to my daddy and mummy. He also talks to my brother and me. So there...! Yours `85Supriya." I wrote back to her: "Dear Supriya, I am glad to hear that God visits you every day and talks to your parents, your brother and you. But He does not visit or talk to me. Please send me His telephone number."

Then I put Rajmohan two questions, which are imprinted in my mind. I asked: "Is there a God?"`A0 He replied: "I believe there is one. He has brought us together this evening." I was baffled. They wanted to see me. I welcomed their visit. God has nothing to do with it. I put my second question: "Where does a person go when he or she dies?" "I don’t know for sure but I know we all go to a nice place."

Food for life

A bumper wheat and rice crop is a curse;

And Food Security Act makes it worse;

Because our great country doesn’t have the capacity to store;

So piles of foodgrains must lie outdoor;

Relaxing under the soothing sun, hail and rain;

And witness the spectacle of food for life going down the drain;

And if storage capacity is not built;

Nobody is to blame for it;

Because for us, holding Commonwealth Games has a higher priority;

Over building adequate storage capacity;

And foodgrains are not the only thing to be stored;

We must rent out godowns to hoard bottles of liquor;

And provide succour to the blackmarketeers of pulses and sugar;

O, in the season of scams and inflation;

Let the hungry of the nation die of starvation.

(Courtesy: Kuldip Salil, Delhi)

Travel by bus

While travelling in a crowded Kolkata bus many years ago, a friend and I stood so that two elderly women could sit down. There were several men seated, and one said to my friend: "Madam, you are standing on my foot."

"If you were a gentleman," she shot back, "you would be standing on your own."

(Contributed by Reeten Ganguly, Tezpur)





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