“Amon deshti kothao khojay
Shokol desher rani shejey,
Ammar jonmo
bhoomee”
India was unique also because Khushwant Singh lived there.
Mr. Singh has appeared on this blog many times earlier and he will continue to do so. I have almost all his books. I have liked him since when I was a kid.
I still remember reading Dhiren Bhagat's obituary of him for "Sunday Observer" in 1980's. It obviously came almost three decades too soon. Mr. Bhagat, one of my favourite columnists, himself died in 1988.
I still remember reading Dhiren Bhagat's obituary of him for "Sunday Observer" in 1980's. It obviously came almost three decades too soon. Mr. Bhagat, one of my favourite columnists, himself died in 1988.
Artist: Mario de Miranda, The Illustrated Weekly of IndiaThe Times of India interviewed him in November 2011.
How are you spending your days currently?
By not meeting
anyone. In fact, I’m happiest when left alone. I have never ever felt lonely...
...Yet, your penchant for contemporary political commentary
hasn’t gone – broad comments on what’s happening in the country today?
We have an honest
and able prime minister but there is rampant corruption…I don’t believe the
likes of Anna Hazare can do a thing about this corruption. Only Mahatma Gandhi
would have been able to arouse mass consciousness to halt this corruption
spreading all around. Meanwhile, on the other side, it’s so obvious that chief
minister Narendra Modi is targeting officers in Gujarat who dared to bare the
truth...
...Your age is always a matter of public comment; do you
privately think about death?
Yes. I think of
death very often. I think of all my friends gone and wonder where they are…I
wonder why we don’t discuss death in our homes. It’s one of those realities no
one can escape…I also believe in the Jain philosophy that death ought to be
celebrated. Years ago, I’d sit at the cremation grounds. That had a certain
effect on me, worked as therapy. And years ago, i’d written my own epitaph:
‘Here lies one who spared neither man or God/ Waste not your tears on him, he
was a sod/ Writing nasty things he regarded as great fun/ Thank the Lord he is
dead, this son of a gun.’
...Clearly, you have few regrets; is there anything you wish
you could have done differently?
I should have
started my writing career much earlier – I wasted several years pursuing the
legal profession. The other regret is not to have written more against
religious fundamentalists hell-bent on causing divides between communities of
this land. They have to be dealt with severely. My worry is over the rise of
right-wing fascist parties in the country. We have to save our country from
these destructive forces.
