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Khushwant Singh: An apologist for Muhammad

An apologist for Muhammad, may peace be on him.  Click here to read his article.
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Khushwant Singh
Khushwantsingh.jpg

Khushwant Singh at a reading in New Delhi
Born Khushal Singh
2 February 1915 (age 98)
Hadali, British India (current Sargodha District, Pakistan)
Nationality Indian
Alma mater St. Stephen’s College, Delhi
King’s College London
Occupation Journalist, writer, historian
Spouse(s) Kawal malik

Khushwant Singh ; born 2 February 1915) is an Indian novelist and journalist.

An Indo-Anglian novelist, Singh is best known for his trenchant secularism,[1] his humor, and an abiding love of poetry. His comparisons of social and behavioral characteristics of Westerners and Indians are laced with acid wit. He served as editor of several literary and news magazines, as well as two broadsheet newspapers, through the 1970s and 1980s. He is a recipient of the Padma Vibhushan the second highest civilian award in India.

Early life

Singh was born in Hadali District Khushab, Punjab (which now lies in Pakistan), in a Sikh family. His father, Sir Sobha Singh (builder), was a prominent builder in Lutyens’ Delhi. His uncle Sardar Ujjal Singh (1895–1983) was Ex. Governor ofPunjab & Tamil Nadu.

He was educated at Modern School, New Delhi, Government College, Lahore, St. Stephen’s College in Delhi and King’s College, London, before reading for the Bar at the Inner Temple.[2][3]

Career

Singh has edited Yojana, an Indian government journal; The Illustrated Weekly of India, a newsweekly; and two major Indian newspapers, The National Herald and the Hindustan Times. During his tenure, The Illustrated Weekly became India’s pre-eminent newsweekly, with its circulation raising from 65,000 to 400000.[4] After working for nine years in the weekly, on 25 July 1978, a week before he was to retire, the management asked Singh to leave “with immediate effect”.[4] The new editor was installed the same day.[4] After Singh’s departure, the weekly suffered a huge drop in readership.[5]
From 1980 through 1986, Singh was a member of Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1974 for service to his country. In 1984, he returned the award in protest against the siege of the Golden Temple by the Indian Army.[6] In 2007, the Indian government awarded Khushwant Singh the Padma Vibhushan.

Singh is said to wake up at 4 am each day and write his columns by hand. His works range from political commentary and contemporary satire to outstanding translations of Sikh religious texts and Urdu poetry.[citation needed] Despite the name, his column “With Malice Towards One and All” regularly contains secular exhortations and messages of peace. In addition, he is one of the last remaining writers to have personally known most of the stalwart writers and poets of Urdu and Punjabi languages, and profiles his recently deceased contemporaries in his column.

As a public figure, Singh has been accused of favoring the ruling Congress party, especially during the reign of Indira Gandhi. He is better viewed as an establishment liberal. Singh’s faith in the Indian political system has been shaken by events such as anti-Sikh riots that followed Indira Gandhi’s assassination, in which major Congress politicians are alleged to be involved. But he has remained resolutely positive on the promise of Indian democracy[7] and worked via Citizen’s Justice Committee floated by H. S. Phoolka who is a senior advocate of Delhi High Court.

Personal life

He has a son, named Rahul Singh, and a daughter, named Mala. Actress Amrita Singh is the daughter of his brother Daljit Singh and Rukhsana Sultana. He stays in “Sujan Singh Park”, near Khan Market New Delhi, Delhi’s first apartment complex, built by his father in 1945, and named after his grandfather.[8]

Honors and awards

Works

Books

Short story collections

  • The Mark of Vishnu and Other Stories. London, Saturn Press, 1950.
  • The Voice of God and Other Stories. Bombay, Jaico, 1957.
  • A Bride for the Sahib and Other Stories. New Delhi, Hind, 1967.
  • Black Jasmine. Bombay, Jaico, 1971
  • The Collected Stories. N.p., Ravi Dayal, 1989.
  • The Portrait of a Lady11th CBSE in Horn Bill
  • The Strain
  • Success Mantra

Play

Television Documentary: Third World—Free Press (also presenter; Third Eye series), 1982 (UK).[clarification needed][citation needed]

See also

  • Karma, a short story by Khushwant Singh

Notes

  1. ^ Secularism gone Overboard
  2. ^ Khushwant Singh, Forward, in Aditya Bhattacharjea and Lola Chatterjee (eds), The Fiction of St Stephen’s
  3. ^ Vinita Rani, “STYLE AND STRUCTURE IN THE SHORT STORIES OF KHUSHWANT SINGH. A CRITICAL STUDY”, PhD Thesis, http://mjpru.ac.in/PhdDetails/PhdEnglish/PhdData/Vinita.doc
  4. ^ a b c Khushwant Singh (1993). “Farewell to the Illustrated Weekly”. In Nandini Mehta. Not a Nice Man To Know. Penguin Books. p. 8. “On 25 July 1978, one week before he was to retire, he was abruptly asked to leave with immediate effect. Khushwant quietly got up, collected his umbrella, and without a word to his staff, left the office where he had worked for nine years, raising the Illustrated Weekly‘s circulation from 65,000 to 400000. The new editor was installed the same day, and ordered by the Weekly’s management to kill the “Farewell” column.”
  5. ^ “Khushwant Singh’s Journalism: The Illustrated Weekly of India”. Sepiamutiny.com. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
  6. ^ “Those who said no to top awards”. The Times of India. 2008-01-20. Retrieved 2008-11-05.
  7. ^ Singh, Khushwant, “Oh, That Other Hindu Riot Of Passage,” Outlook Magazine, November, 07, 2004 , available at [1]
  8. ^ “Making history with brick and mortar”. Hindustan Times. September 15, 2011.
  9. ^ Singh, Khushwant (1963). A History of the Sikhs. Princeton University Press.
  10. ^ Singh, Khushwant (1966). A History of the Sikhs (2 ed.). Princeton University Press.
  11. ^ Singh, Khushwant (2004). A History of the Sikhs: 1469-1838 (2, illustrated ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 434. ISBN 0-19-567308-5, 9780195673081 Check |isbn= value (help). Retrieved July 2009.
  12. ^ Singh, Khushwant (2005). A History of the Sikhs: 1839-2004 (2, illustrated ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 547. ISBN 0-19-567309-3, 9780195673098 Check |isbn= value (help). Retrieved July 2009.

References

  • Chopra, Radika.”Social Criticism through Social History in Khushwant Singh’s non-fiction”. Muse India Journal. Issue 44. July-August 2012. [2]

External links[edit]

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