Khushwant Singh

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The Times of India

Khushwant Singh was born in Hadali District Khushab, Punjab to Sir Sobha Singh, a civil contractor and a prominent builder of Lutyens' Delhi. His uncle Sardar Ujjal Singh was Ex. Governor of Punjab and Tamil Nadu.

He was educated at Modern School, New Delhi, Government College, Lahore, St. Stephen's College in Delhi and King's College, London, before reading for the Bar at the Inner Temple.

His house in Delhi was "Sujan Singh Park", Delhi's first apartment complex, built by his father in 1945, and named after his grandfather. (AP)

Khushwant has written more than 45 books, novels and anthologies of short stories.

His famous books include "Train to Pakistan", "More Malicious Gossip", "Delhi: A Novel", "I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale", "Big Book of Malice" and "The Good, the Bad and the Ridiculous

Khuswant Singh many times attracted controversy over what his critics called his obsession with writing on sex.

Author Dhiren Bhagat, who died in 1988, wrote in a mock obit of Khushwant Singh in 1983 that the writer was troubled by impotence in 1950s. "Impotence had claimed Khushwant back in the fifties. At first he had been sorely troubled by this condition and had tried several remedies, mostly indigenous. This accounted for his immense knowledge of jaree-bootees and his disillusionment with quacks," Bhagat wrote.

Khushwant Singh started consuming alcohol at the age of 25.

Khushwant Singh was critised by Bhagat Singh's relative in 2011, stating that the writer, who was the son of a Delhi builder who betrayed Bhagat Singh, was defending his father. Singh claimed his father Sobha Singh's act was not that of betrayal but he was in fact only speaking the truth. (

He openly admitted his views over seeing women as ‘object of lust’

Khushwant Singh is the original creator of Santa Singh and Banta Singh jokes for carrying them in his best-selling books and gaining them popularity through his columns.

The author released his last book, The Good, The Bad and The Ridiculous, in October 2013.

Singh was accused of favouring the ruling Congres party, especially during the reign of Indira Gandhi. He was derisively termed as an Establishment Liberal. Singh's faith in the Indian political system, however, was shaken by events such as anti-Sikh riots that followed Indira Gandhi's assassination.

In his book ‘Khushwantnama: The Lessons of My Life’ he confesses of doing evil deeds like killing sparrows, pigeons in his earlier days.

Not many know that Singh was grand-uncle of actress Tisca Chopra and uncle of actress Amrita Singh.