Khushwant

Book Review

Of

Truth, Love & a little Malice –

Autobiography of Khushwant Singh


Truth, Love & a little Malice is an autobiographical account of India’s most renowned, prolific and controversial living author and journalist Khushwant Singh. It is the living legend’s swan song written in the twilight of his illustrious career and colorful life. It is a brutally honest memoir documenting his life, experiences, achievements and disappointments from infancy to the present day. It recounts his relationships with his parents, grandmother, school and college friends and friends and acquaintances he later established. It also gives an account of his mixed and checkered experiences with men of importance, influence, power, wealth, intellect and glamour. It also furnishes Khushwant’s analysis of the strengths, weaknesses and idiosyncrasies of acclaimed politicians and intellectuals. It presents Khushwant’s own idiosyncrasies, obsessions and phobias. It gives his opinions on caliber of writers. It records his views on secular and religious matters. It also gives us a glance into the frailty and fragility of communal harmony among the gullible, unenlightened masses in times of crises and bigoted propaganda. It also gives us a glimpse into history. It is written in a simple, lucid and unpretentious style. It is written in a style characteristic of Khushwant Singh – amusing, bantering, mocking, critical, candid, bold, poignant and Bohemian styles interwoven into an enjoyable and spellbinding story. The story holds fast the reader’s attention and interest until one finishes reading.

Khushwant narrates his life from his earliest memories of childhood. He was born into an extremely affluent business family. He spent his early childhood days in a village in West Punjab in pre-partition India. He and his grandmother shared a close and affectionate emotional bond in the village. He played in the village with the local village boys. He describes village life, simple and carefree. He depicts his grandmother’s religiosity and superstition. He explains the terrain and the sense of fear and insecurity that existed in the village. He portrays the primitive instructional and disciplinary methods that existed in the village school and the rusticism of the villagers. He makes no bones about being interested in women since early childhood. He also tells of the uneasy atmosphere in which Muslims coexisted with the Hindus and Sikhs.

Khushwant goes on to describe the transition to the big metropolitan city Delhi where he began to live with his parents. His father’s wealth, influence and power got him admitted into an excellent school. He says that he took time to get acclimatized to the school and the urban atmosphere. He was an easy target for bullies earlier on but gradually learnt to fend for himself. Many of his friends and colleagues in school he met later on and they became his friends later on. Satindra Singh was one of them. He also befriended some older girls who later resurfaced in his life. Ujjal Singh and Roma Biswas were some of them.

It is in this period of late childhood that he had started playing pranks on people. He developed a lifelong passion and obsession for playing pranks on people. He was mischievous from late childhood. Mischief was another of his eternal idiosyncrasies. An amusing incident was when once he played mischief on a Sikh regiment. He does not conceal his mediocre performance in studies and sports. He makes no bones about getting admission in India’s top colleges due to his family’s influential and wealthy background. This is exemplified by his admission to colleges like St.Stephen’s College, Delhi and Govt. Law College, Lahore and King’s College, London.

The book gives us a glimpse of the times. In those days buggery between two men was quite common. Ragging had migrated to India from England. In those days sons and daughters of important people got admission in the temples of learning due to family influence and wealth. Sons and daughters coming from powerful homes automatically passed important examinations. We also get a glimpse of the aloofness of the Muslims from the Hindus and Sikhs at that time in India.

The book tells us that Khushwant even at a very early age was patriotic, bold and courageous. His hoisting the Indian flag in St. Stephen’s College and keeping the autograph of the revolutionary Bhagat Singh typify his courage and patriotism. Ample examples of his courage can be found later in the book. Some of them are when he sat down on a bench in Nazi Germany reserved for Jews, his volunteering as a participant in the International Brigade in Spain and his pro-Pakistan stance on the Kashmir issue. He sympathized with the Communists and was close to the Communist Party of India. He was compassionate and this is exemplified in his giving refuge to outlawed Communists like Danial Latifi, Dange and Ajoy Ghosh. He was anti-fascist and a believer in non-violence. The book reflects him as a man of principles. His surrendering Padma Bhushan after the storming of the Golden Temple supports this claim. He was extremely enamored of women in his adolescence and often dated and befriended women. His passion and fondness of women continues even to this today. He was a broadminded person and was never susceptible to bigoted, prejudiced communal hatred. He was a secular-minded individual and still is. He took a pro-Muslim and pro-Jewish stance throughout his life. He befriended Muslims and was always welcome in Pakistan. Manzur Qadir and M.A. Rahman were a few of his closest friends. He promoted Muslims in his life. M.J.Akbar was his protégé.

Khushwant Singh does not mince his words even when it comes to his family. He characterizes his father as being been an overbearing and domineering person. He also does not hide the fact that his father took dowry in marriage. He characterizes his mother as submissive. He makes fun of his ancestors as being superstitious. He even makes fun of himself as often making an ass of himself. He makes no bones about the fact that for many years even in adulthood he was virtually dependent on his father’s wealth before he made his mark as a historian and a journalist.

The book ultimately portrays him as an independent thinker. He is often critical of great men and does not admire them. Although he admires Mahatma Gandhi for his non-violent stance and great leadership, he is critical of Nehru, Tagore, Indira Gandhi, Krishna Menon and Amrita Shergil. He characterizes Nehru as insolent and vain. He speaks highly disparagingly of Krishna Menon. He characterizes him as rude, insolent, aggressive and an unpredictable man who was also a womanizer. He paints a negative picture of Amrita Shergil as well. He classifies her as a depraved and promiscuous woman who was also rude, haughty and arrogant. He admires the works of Tagore but found him to be superficial. He is critical of Indira Gandhi as well. He classifies her as imperious, arrogant, arbitrary, rude and insolent. On the other hand he admires the brash Sanjay Gandhi for his ability to get things executed with swiftness. The book also presents his views on writers. He regards V.S. Naipaul, Vikram Seth, Somerset Maugham and Aldous Huxley as great writers but considers R.K.Narayan, Raja Rao and Mulk Raj Anand as second-rate writers. The book also talks about his agnosticism and his obsession with death. In a nutshell the book makes for fascinating reading.