My Tribute To Khushwant Singh

Perhaps the least revealed aspect ofKhushwant Singh’s colorful and longactive life, which he cited severaltimes but which has been ignored asirrelevant by wordsmiths who wroteabout him including the obituaries,was the fact that in his life he perfectlybalanced his cogitative pursuitswith active physical lifestyle of exercise,sports and walks.Unlike most of the known contemporarythinkers and writers KhushwantSingh realized that both mental andphysical activities occupy an equalspace in ones daily routine, and thatboth are healthful to each other.The last column I read by him at theage of 98, which still had his trademarkof wits here and there, he talkedabout his daily routine and dietincluding a couple of shots of singlemalts. The latter was essential to givethat kick of ‘saroor’ to relish his simplefood and the evening.He emphasized the need for massage,which was done two times a day, tokeep the body muscles invigoratedand for better blood circulation. His reasoning was that in oldage one can’t do much strenuousexercises for musclestrength, but to keep themhealthy and in shape, massagewas the only way.Khushwant Singh also mentionedin the same column thathow important it was to keepones bowls clean. His prescriptionwas that one should havefleet enema occasionally. And inhis imaginative and typical satiricalstyle he quoted Gandhi whoused to have the enema not onlyfor himself but doing it on hisfemale aides as well.He loved stomach friendly easyto digest food, and for that hispreference was South Indianidly and sambhar. Still he neverliked ‘upampa’, the wheatmealpudding-look salty dish whichwas not palatable to sweethalva-loving PunjabiKhushwant Singh.His physical activities includedplaying tennis which of coursehe abandoned in his most senioryears. He was a popular andfriendly walker as he strolledalong every morning with hisneighborhood friends.A lot has been said about hisimmense contribution towardcontemporary Indian literarywritings and his widely-read andlucid daily columns. However,his other big contribution washis creation of two funny charactersin the name of Santa andBanta. The popular jokesattributing to Santa-Banta orrevolving around them werewhat elevated Khushwant Singhfrom the level of an intellectualelite to the status of a simplefun-loving ‘aam aadmi’.(Footnote: as a tribute to KhushwnatSingh, my all-time favorite journalist,this piece was written with a glass ofwine. Cheers and salutation Mr.Khushwant Singh where ever youare).