Khushwant Singh Sir: India’s original KS

“Here lies one who spared neither man nor 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.”

--- Self-written obituary [Death at my Doorstep, Roli Books]


“What was a four-wheeled Victoria taking well-draped ladies out to eat the Indian air I made a noisy, rumbustious, jet-propelled vehicle of information, controversy and amusement… till the Illustrated did become a weekly habit of the English-reading pseudo-elite of the country.”

--- Khushwant Singh Sir, on the change wrought in his tenure [1969-1978]


“All I hope is that when death comes to me, it comes swiftly, without much pain; like fading away in sound slumber. Till that time I will strive to live as full a life as I did in my younger days. One should prepare oneself to die like a man; no moaning, groaning or crying for reprieve.”

--- Khushwant Singh Sir, in his final epitaph.

Derek O’Brien
Member of Parliament
Chief Whip in the Rajya Sabha and National Spokesperson, Trinamool Congress