Khushwant Singh

Singh got married to Kawal Malik and had two children with her—Rahul Singh and Mala Singh.

He died on March 20, 2014 in Delhi. He is survived by his children and his death was mourned by President, Vice President and Prime Minister of India.

Khushwant Singh was born in Hadali, Punjab , which is now a part of Pakistan to Sir Sobha Singh. His father was one of the most prominent builders of his times and used to work in Lutyen’s Delhi.

Singh received his education at Modern School in New Delhi. He also received his higher education from Government College in Lahore and eventually studied at St. Stephen’s College in New Delhi and King’s College in London.

Singh first started his career as that of a professional lawyer in 1938. His heart was set on working with the legal system in India and contributing towards it. He dedicatedly worked and gave his best at the Lahore Court for good 8 years.

After India became independent in 1947, he joined the Indian Foreign Services (IFS). He began his stint in IFS by first serving as the Information Officer of the Government of India in Toronto, Canada. After that, Singh went on to become the Press Attache and Public Officer for the Indian High Commission in London and Ottawa.

In 1951, he left the IFS and joined the All India Radio as a journalist.

During the time period 1954-1956, he worked in the Department of Mass Communications of UNESCO in Paris. In 1956, he got into editorial services and started editing a newspaper called Yojana, which was an Indian government journal.

During his nine-year tenure (1969–1978) as editor of the weekly magazine, ‘The Illustrated Weekly', the circulation of the weekly rose from 65,000 to 400000.

Even though Singh was a part of many things, from Indian legal system to Indian Foreign Services to Indian journalism to editorial to writing novels, it is his novels that made him renowned all over the world.

His book ‘A History of the Sikhs’ is regarded as the most authoritative work on the Sikh history.