Khushwant Singh, one of the best -known Indian writers of all
times, was born in 1915 in Hadali (now in Pakistan). He was educated
at the Government College, Lahore and at King's College, Cambridge
University, and the Inner Temple in London. He practiced law at
the Lahore High Court for several years before joining the Indian
Ministry of External Affairs in 1947. He began a distinguished
career as a journalist with the All India Radio in 1951. Since
then he has been founder-editor of Yojana (1951-1953), editor
of the Illustrated weekly of India (1979-1980), chief editor of
New Delhi (1979-1980), and editor of the Hindustan times (1980-1983).
His Saturday column "With Malice Towards One and All"
in the Hindustan times is by far one of the most popular columns
of the day.
Khushwant Singh's name is bound to go down in Indian literary
history as one of the finest historians and novelists, a forthright
political commentator, and an outstanding observer and social
critic. In July 2000, he was conferred the "Honest Man of
the Year Award" by the Sulabh International Social Service
Organization for his courage and honesty in his "brilliant
incisive writing." At the award ceremony, the chief minister
of Andhra Pradesh described him as a "humourous writer and
incorrigible believer in human goodness with a devil-may-care
attitude and a courageous mind." The Indian external affairs
minister said that the secret of Khushwant Singh's success lay
in his learning and discipline behind the "veneer of superficiality."
Among the several works he published are a classic two-volume
history of the Sikhs, several novels (the best known of which
are Delhi, Train to Pakistan, and The company of women), and a
number of translations and non-fiction books on Delhi, nature
and current affairs. The Library of Congress has ninety-nine works
on and by Khushwant Singh.
Khushwant Singh was a member of the Rajya Sabha (upper house
of the Indian Parliament) from 1980 to 1986. Among other honors,
he was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1974 by the President of India
(he returned the decoration in 1984 in protest against the Union
Government's siege of the Golden Temple in Amritsar).