The Good, the Bad and the Ridiculous

by Khushwant Singh

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  I thank Humra Quraishi, Ravi Singh and Pradipta Sarkar for helping me put this book together.

  Most of my books and columns would not have been possible without Lachman Das, my secretary for fifty years. I am grateful to him.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Born in Punjab’s Hadali village (now in Pakistan) in 1915, KHUSHWANT SINGH is one of India’s best known and most widely read authors and columnists. He was founder-editor of Yojana, and editor of The Illustrated Weekly of India, National Herald and the Hindustan Times. His first book, The Mark of Vishnu and Other Stories, was published in 1950, and he has published several acclaimed and best-selling books of fiction and non-fiction in the six decades since. Among these are the novels Train to Pakistan, I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale, Delhi and The Company of Women; his autobiography, Truth, Love and a Little Malice; the two-volume A History of the Sikhs; a collection of prayers and precepts, The Freethinker’s Prayer Book; and the forthcoming Consolations and Lamentations. He has also translated the work of major Punjabi and Urdu poets and writers, as well as The Japji and the Rehras: The Morning and Evening Prayers of the Sikhs.

  Khushwant Singh was a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1980 to 1986. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1974; he returned the award in 1984 to protest the siege of the Golden Temple by the Indian Army. In 2007, he was awarded India’s second highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan. He was also honoured by the Government of Punjab with the Punjab Rattan Award in 2006.