Truth, Love & a Little Malice by Khushwant Singh

One of the most interesting works of Khushwant Singh is his autobiography Truth, love and a little malice. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Living in pre-partition Punjab which has now become Pakistan Singh recalls his childhood memories. He talks about his village life, his grandmother, family and his surroundings.

Starting from his primary education Singh narrates how he moved to Dehli for his college. Later in Lahore he attended Government College. The interesting story of how he was inducted into the college is presented in detail. The student groupings, biases, antagonisms at Government Collage are also mentioned by the author.

After completing his education in Lahore Singh moved to London to start his Law degree at Kings College. His experiences at London are really worth reading. Starting his journey from India and traveling to England on ship with other Indian students was a new experience for him. The complexities, observing new things, encounter with other students and the time spent in England are well narrated. Singh befriended many people in England. He writes in detail about Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims and the British who lived in London back in those days.In a chapter Singh writes about the loot and plunder that took place in 1947 when the partition took place. He adds that the environment was very tense and hostile. Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims were all involved in the massacre.

Khushwant Singh served an appointment at the Indian High commission London. He writes extensively about the politics within the Indian staff present there. Moreover, in the book the author also covers his travel and work experiences. His affiliation with the UN is also reflected. Singh also moved to Canada where he had other experiences. The author of this now started developing an interest in Sikh religion and history. He got a grant and sponsor went to London to do some serious work in this regard. From writing to publishing he writes about all the difficulty, opponents and criticism he faced. Singh was contacted by many leading universities of the world. He lectured at universities and joined the academia.

After his return to India Khushwant Singh joined journalism. During this phase he also got into the Raja Sabha. The Sikh population was massacred during this time period as Mrs Gandhi used strong measures against them. In this affair thousands of people including women and children were killed. Singh’s close affiliation with Indira Gandhi’s family and later his distance from them are explained in detail. Khushwant Singh writes a separate chapter on Pakistan which is also very interesting. Singh’s thinking towards major religions and his own agnosticism are also explained in great detail. After that the author writes about the art of writing and his interaction with different writers. His own inspiration in the field of writing are also included by him.

Overall this is a very interesting autobiography which not only tells us about the life of Khushwant Singh but explores the intricacies of recent history which Singh saw through his own eyes. Every person living in the Indian sub-continent should read this book.