He has made history by writing it

Some epochs are defined by their epidemics, some by their inventions, yet others by their saints. But most make up for their mediocrity b...

Some epochs are defined by their epidemics, some by their inventions, yet others by their saints. But most make up for their mediocrity by pitching in with men who make headlines, and history. Khushwant Singh falls into this category. With a slight difference, though. He writes history.

He caught the history of Sikhism on its wrong foot, wrapped it up in its old scarred pelt, and preserved it for posterity. Today, his book on Sikh Morning Prayer is running into its hundredth edition and A Train To Pakistan still keeps the cash registers ringing. Writing brought Singh his bread and butter, but it is the study of Sikhism that ensured the dessert.

The moolah that accrued from the Grove Press Award for A Train To Pakistan gave Singh his first Mercedes Benz; and the Rockefeller Award later led to teaching Comparative Religion at Princeton, Hawaii and Oxford.

Religion ensures a living, but Singh, surprisingly, is an agnostic. 8220;I gave up religion nearly 40 years ago.8221; Why? Did God prove unkind? 8220;No, I studied religion and realised it is all trash.8221; This most unabashed of all sardars does not know much of Gurmukhi either and only picked it up as a five-year-old living with his grandparents in Hadali now in Pakistan so he could correspond with his mother who knew no other tongue.

From Hadali to Delhi8217;s modern school was an easy transition. 8220;In school, I was bad at everything, except mugging.8221; He knew by rote most of the plays and poems. And it was his English teacher who first remarked in his report card 8212; 8220;He should be encouraged to be a writer.8221;

Nobody took this seriously. Not his father. Not Khushwant Singh. Soon after graduating from St Stephen8217;s College, he did what his father wished 8212; packed his bags to study the law at London University. Here, he was reunited 8212; and later engaged to with a close childhood friend, Kanwal, who was two years junior to Singh in Modern School, and was pursuing a B.Ed. in London. 8220;Our wedding created a splash in Delhi because Jinnah flew in from Bombay to attend,8221; Singh remembers. He has another memory up his sleeve. 8220;Everybody forgot about the groom, they were all looking at Jinnah, who never even got a gift for us.8221;

Back in Lahore, the lawyer Khushwant Singh did not find too many clients. To thwart boredom, he began writing reviews for The Tribune and later spent hours metamorphosing real-life crime stories into fiction. He gathered some bylines and fame as a writer. But in the pre-Partition madness he lost everything and took one of the last trains from Pakistan. The prodigal never returned, the law books gathered dust. Thereafter, all he did was write, because 8220;nobody has developed a condom for the pen.8221;

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Writing his 85th book in his 84th year, Khushwant Singh8217;s day begins at 4.30 with a morning cuppa that he makes himself. He reads, goes for an hour of tennis at 6.30, comes back and writes 8212; all in long hand on yellow note pads brought especially from America. Singh never uses a typewriter; the computer is a no-no.

But he has his loves. Like Scotch, which he has at seven in the evening, but 8220;the bar closes at eight.8221; His favourite food is anything baked or roasted, his favourite fight is bulls and toreros slaughtering each other in Spain. He knows how megh papihas breed off the logging camps and he loves 8220;animated women8221; who are great mimics and finds men boring. The man who chronicled history does not know his exact birthday. 8220;The official documents say February 2, my granny often said I came during the rains. Even before the Congress had decided to throw the British out on August 15, I had thought of it as my real birthday. I don8217;t know which one is true, so I celebrate it twice a year,8221; he says, laughing that famous hearty laugh.

But there are other things he knows you cannot say, he writes things you cannot even dare fantasise. He still makes headlines, and also stories. Khushwant Singh can play the storyteller who walks into your front porch and makes you rehearse life with a laugh. Not many can.