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Title: In Wisdom and in Jest

AUTHOR: Vijay Narain Shankar Onkar Singh

PP: 288

PRICE:₹350

Publisher:Vitasta Publishing

The authors, Vijay Shankar and Onkar Singh, have done such a superb work in bringing the Master back to life for the readers – in India and overseas – those who knew him and/ or had read his works, and those from the relatively younger generations who have not yet read him and do not know him much. I belong to the latter group. Not only did I enjoy reading the book, I also derived immense inspiration from it. My personal thoughts on a range of social and spiritual matters also got calibrated in the process. In particular, I was emboldened with Khushwant’s advice to writers: If you write fearlessly and candidly, you have to be prepared to pay the price. And there’s no point in writing if you’re not honest. I’ve always written what I felt and believed to be true. There’s no secret I kept to myself. At times this has upset people but I’ve never been bothered. With his no-nonsense, direct approach, he would have pushed many noses out of their joints.
Khushwant was not a unidimensional personality. This book amply illustrates his multifaceted personality, his sensitivities, passions, hobbies, his direct
and unpretentious approach to life, his visions, secular thoughts, humour, poetry, sarcasm, acid wit, and his lifelong search for the Truth and God, though being a self-declared agonistic. He seemed to have been much ahead of his time in so many different ways. Being a free thinker, he was driven by his lifelong passion to write stories and dispel the ‘humbug of hypocrisy’ and common taboos.
He believed so-called godmen, astrologers and faith healers constantly exploited the ignorance of the superstitious masses. For him, work was worship. His main strength was that, although he took the world around him quite seriously, he never took himself too seriously, accepting himself as a regular Joe in flesh and blood, with real human feelings and emotions, without any hypocrisy and pretentions.
Veteran editors Kuldip Nayar and H K Dua, well-known journalists Sir Mark Tully, Kumkum Chadha, Chandni Luthra, Suneet Vir Singh, former Advocate General of India Soli Sorabji, hotelier Charanjit Singh, artist Arpana Caur and writer Ajeet Cour, Pakistani writer F S Aijazuddin and filmmaker Bobby Bedi who made the film remember Kushwant fondly.
To sum up the life and thoughts of Khushwant, the legendary writer and icon, and to describe his personality is a significant challenge for any writer. A bigger challenge is to collate the thoughts and perceptions of his friends and contemporaries who have their own perceptions and stories about him. The authors have stitched a very beautiful tapestry that provides a 360 degree view of the multi-dimensional Master and brings the real man back to life.