What do you think?
Rate this book
Truth, love & a little malice: An autobiography
Khushwant Singh has never been less than honest and, most importantly, has never talked down to his readers. His autobiography is of a piece with his life and work. He writes of leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, the terrorist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the talented and scandolous painter Amrita Shergil, and everyday people who became butchers during Partition, with the clarity and candour expected of him. Uncompromising, comic, often moving and always hugely readable, this book is a memoir worthy of one of the great icons of our time.
423 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2002
135 people are currently reading
1879 people want to read
About the author
Khushwant Singh
298 books1,423 followersKhushwant Singh, (Punjabi: ਖ਼ੁਸ਼ਵੰਤ ਸਿੰਘ, Hindi: खुशवंत सिंह) born on 2 February 1915 in Hadali, Undivided India, (now a part of Pakistan), was a prominent Indian novelist and journalist. Singh's weekly column, "With Malice towards One and All", carried by several Indian newspapers, was among the most widely-read columns in the country.
An important post-colonial novelist writing in English, Singh is best known for his trenchant secularism, his humor, and an abiding love of poetry. His comparisons of social and behavioral characteristics of Westerners and Indians are laced with acid wit.
An important post-colonial novelist writing in English, Singh is best known for his trenchant secularism, his humor, and an abiding love of poetry. His comparisons of social and behavioral characteristics of Westerners and Indians are laced with acid wit.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 152 reviews
March 31, 2018
Can't be sure about the Truth part, but for sure it contains a little Love and a lot of Malice!
Unexpected gem of an autobiography.
The initial chapters were deceptively bad.... After 50%, each and every memory and recollection was mind blowing.
Unexpected gem of an autobiography.
The initial chapters were deceptively bad.... After 50%, each and every memory and recollection was mind blowing.
January 10, 2015
I had never read Khushwant Singh in his lifetime of 99 years but was curious to read his books since his death recently. Turned out I had a number of his books at home. I picked this autobiography that he wrote in 2002. It is an engaging book, written in an honest style that traces his birth in pre-independence India, his privileged upbringing as a Delhi builder's son, his deep curiosity for the opposite sex, the many people he encountered in his long life ( he remembers anecdotal stories in great detail), his career in govt, how he turned to become a writer & his tryst with the Gandhis & his views on life, dying, being agonistic yet identifying with his Sikh culture, his thoughts on who his parents were, his relationship with his wife ( despite their differences, they kept their marriage right to the end). His life was rich in encounters & experiences, he highlights his own flaws, miscalculations. I found the experience of his book humbling & his candour refreshing.
March 30, 2019
আত্মজীবনী এমনিতেই পড়তে ভালো লাগে। আর এটা প্রায় উড়াধুরা লেভেলের আত্মজীবনী। অর্ধেক নাগাদ পড়েই মনে হচ্ছিল, 'ইহা হয় একটি পাঁচ তারা বই'। লেখকের অত্যন্ত ব্যক্তিগত কেচ্ছা আছে, প্রেম-ভালোবাসা আছে। হাসি আছে, দুঃখ আছে। সাহিত্য আর সাংবাদিকতার গল্প আছে। সমাজ-রাজনীতি-ইতিহাস-ধর্ম সবই আছে। লেখক তার সময়ের মধ্যে, সমাজের মধ্যে ছিলেন। খুশবন্ত সিং-এর সংশয়ী মন, স্বজাত্যবোধ আবার একইসাথে অসাম্প্রদায়িকতার মিশেল - একবারের জন্যও বেমানান বা গোঁজামিল মনে হয়নি। অস্পষ্টতা তেমন নাই।
আহ্! নিজের উপরেই খুশি হয়ে গেলাম। কী যে আরাম করে পড়া হলো। দারুণ। এক পর্যায়ে মনে হচ্ছিল 'ট্রুথ' আছে ঠিকঠাক। নিজের অতি ব্যক্তিগত বিব্রতকর কথাগুলিও অবলীলায় লিখে ফেলেছেন। 'ম্যালিস'-এরও বিন্দুমাত্র অভাব নাই। তবে 'লাভ' যেন একটু কমই। কিন্তু যেভাবে শেষ করলেন! নামকরণ পুরোপুরি সার্থক। অসাধারণ।
আহ্! নিজের উপরেই খুশি হয়ে গেলাম। কী যে আরাম করে পড়া হলো। দারুণ। এক পর্যায়ে মনে হচ্ছিল 'ট্রুথ' আছে ঠিকঠাক। নিজের অতি ব্যক্তিগত বিব্রতকর কথাগুলিও অবলীলায় লিখে ফেলেছেন। 'ম্যালিস'-এরও বিন্দুমাত্র অভাব নাই। তবে 'লাভ' যেন একটু কমই। কিন্তু যেভাবে শেষ করলেন! নামকরণ পুরোপুরি সার্থক। অসাধারণ।
July 1, 2023
বইটার নাম ‘ট্রুথ লাভ অ্যান্ড “এন্তার” ম্যালিস’ হলে যথার্থ হতো।
এ এক ‘রঙিলা’ বই। 😁
৪২০ পৃষ্ঠার বইয়ে আসল ‘খেলা’ শুরু প্রথমার্ধের পরে, লেখকের দ্য ‘ইলাসট্রেটেড উইকলি অভ ইন্ডিয়া’ অধ্যায় যখন শুরু হয়।
তাই বলে কি প্রথমার্ধ ম্যাড়মেড়ে? মোটেই না। ওইটুকুও প্রায় সমান উপভোগ্য।
খুশবন্ত সিং আধুনিক ভারতের প্রায় সব ইতিহাসেরই প্রত্যক্ষদর্শী এবং কিছু কিছু ক্ষেত্রে অংশগ্রহণকারীও। তাই এই আত্মজীবনীতে উপভোগের রসদের কমতি নেই একবিন্দু।
ভূমিকায় খুশবন্ত সিং লিখেছেন, ‘এই আত্মজীবনী বয়োবৃদ্ধের সন্তানের মতো। এটি থেকে বেশি কিছু আশা করা যথার্থ হবে না। এর মধ্যে আছে কিছু গালগল্প, কিছু সুড়সুড়ি, কিছু খ্যাতি নাশ, কিছু বিনোদন—এর চাইতে উত্তম আর কী দেয়া আমার পক্ষে সম্ভব।’
এ বই একটা ‘অভিজ্ঞতা’। রত্নবিশেষ। খুশবন্ত সিংয়ের সোজাসাপটা, ডাকাবুকো, সরস উপস্থাপনার গুণে রোলার কোস্টার রাইডের অভিজ্ঞতা হয়ে গেল।
এ এক ‘রঙিলা’ বই। 😁
৪২০ পৃষ্ঠার বইয়ে আসল ‘খেলা’ শুরু প্রথমার্ধের পরে, লেখকের দ্য ‘ইলাসট্রেটেড উইকলি অভ ইন্ডিয়া’ অধ্যায় যখন শুরু হয়।
তাই বলে কি প্রথমার্ধ ম্যাড়মেড়ে? মোটেই না। ওইটুকুও প্রায় সমান উপভোগ্য।
খুশবন্ত সিং আধুনিক ভারতের প্রায় সব ইতিহাসেরই প্রত্যক্ষদর্শী এবং কিছু কিছু ক্ষেত্রে অংশগ্রহণকারীও। তাই এই আত্মজীবনীতে উপভোগের রসদের কমতি নেই একবিন্দু।
ভূমিকায় খুশবন্ত সিং লিখেছেন, ‘এই আত্মজীবনী বয়োবৃদ্ধের সন্তানের মতো। এটি থেকে বেশি কিছু আশা করা যথার্থ হবে না। এর মধ্যে আছে কিছু গালগল্প, কিছু সুড়সুড়ি, কিছু খ্যাতি নাশ, কিছু বিনোদন—এর চাইতে উত্তম আর কী দেয়া আমার পক্ষে সম্ভব।’
এ বই একটা ‘অভিজ্ঞতা’। রত্নবিশেষ। খুশবন্ত সিংয়ের সোজাসাপটা, ডাকাবুকো, সরস উপস্থাপনার গুণে রোলার কোস্টার রাইডের অভিজ্ঞতা হয়ে গেল।
May 12, 2019
simple lucid written with powerful honesty. a man on himself
September 19, 2016
I was running out of reasons to not start Khushwant Singh's autobiography which he completed in 2001, when he was 87 and hallucinating over his death. For one, the scale of years that K.S. lived promised much experiences of both failures and achievements, agonies and joys. Considering he spent most of his life experimenting over different passions, holding high-ranks at top bureaucratic offices and ministries, and exchanged ideas with Who-Know-Hos of various fields was more than enough to read his invaluable work.
But it wasn't just his work profiles or his life experiences of over 85 years which compelled me to pick his book. It was also about his novels, novellas, fiction based on women sexuality, non-fiction based on his argument against God's existence, and his witty, seamless writing too. It seemed, going through all of these works, that K.S. has oceans of stories to tell. It turned out that oceans of stories was more or less an undervaluation.
K.S. have thousands of stories to tell in his book. The stories begin from his childhood: stories about how he tricked his seniors in schools with his ingenious traps; of how he saw his college teacher having sex with his wife while strolling on the hostel roof. Stories about many high-profile friends he met in his life, and about myriads ways he charmed the ladies.
But I wasn't looking for them. The stories were superficial. They were written as first-hand accounts. How K.S. felt, what he thought, and how he basked under joy and agonised beneath suffering were left untouched. The true assessment that an auto-biography offers of a writer's life wasnt there. I think he should have written stories not as a way of narrating it but as a to access himself.
For me the biography took my attention from 3rd chapter when Singh begin to tell tales of watershed historical events. The best I read was that of Partition. He narrated various anecdotes without any hatred towards Muslims or undue support for Hindu mobs. He talked about how the whole country was on a potboiler, one small skirmish and the whole country would fall into chaotic riots. He talked about the judicial system. The judicial system wasnt based on justice but on who the judge was and who the conivct was. If a Hindu was being judged by Muslim, he had no hope of getting free, no matter what the evidences were. And the same with Muslim being judged by Hindu. The readers came to know about the incidents not from the perspective of the Historian that Singh is, but as a first-hand account that Singh experienced. The divergences in history books of India and Pakistan questions the veracity of the history of partition, but real-time experiences such as Singh's give the opportunity to see history as it was.
He later talked about writing the famous 2-volume Sikh history. But here, I felt the need to know more. Singh told how he wrote the subject, while I was looking for the subject and not how he wrote it. In subsequent chapters, Singh described important events of his life. His diplomatic missions, his work as an editor of Yojana and Illustrated weekly, the emergency period, and much more. The chapter where Singh talked about his work as an editor of Yojana and Illustrated Weekly gave me what I wanted to really know: how he went about his work. He told how he travelled the whole country for finding themes for the magazines and how he build a famous magazine out of scratch.
At the end, I am not fully satisfied nor fully dissatisfied. This autobiography tells a great deal about the author, but only at a superficial level. The writing is engrossing, witty, and full of lively metaphors and english and Urdu poems. His travelling experiences, his work experiences, and his experiences of women were many and made for a good read. The book gave valuable insights to historical events and helped to know what happened behind the doors. If only the book had the elements of author's inner beliefs and feelings, this autobiography would have been truly complete.
But it wasn't just his work profiles or his life experiences of over 85 years which compelled me to pick his book. It was also about his novels, novellas, fiction based on women sexuality, non-fiction based on his argument against God's existence, and his witty, seamless writing too. It seemed, going through all of these works, that K.S. has oceans of stories to tell. It turned out that oceans of stories was more or less an undervaluation.
K.S. have thousands of stories to tell in his book. The stories begin from his childhood: stories about how he tricked his seniors in schools with his ingenious traps; of how he saw his college teacher having sex with his wife while strolling on the hostel roof. Stories about many high-profile friends he met in his life, and about myriads ways he charmed the ladies.
But I wasn't looking for them. The stories were superficial. They were written as first-hand accounts. How K.S. felt, what he thought, and how he basked under joy and agonised beneath suffering were left untouched. The true assessment that an auto-biography offers of a writer's life wasnt there. I think he should have written stories not as a way of narrating it but as a to access himself.
For me the biography took my attention from 3rd chapter when Singh begin to tell tales of watershed historical events. The best I read was that of Partition. He narrated various anecdotes without any hatred towards Muslims or undue support for Hindu mobs. He talked about how the whole country was on a potboiler, one small skirmish and the whole country would fall into chaotic riots. He talked about the judicial system. The judicial system wasnt based on justice but on who the judge was and who the conivct was. If a Hindu was being judged by Muslim, he had no hope of getting free, no matter what the evidences were. And the same with Muslim being judged by Hindu. The readers came to know about the incidents not from the perspective of the Historian that Singh is, but as a first-hand account that Singh experienced. The divergences in history books of India and Pakistan questions the veracity of the history of partition, but real-time experiences such as Singh's give the opportunity to see history as it was.
He later talked about writing the famous 2-volume Sikh history. But here, I felt the need to know more. Singh told how he wrote the subject, while I was looking for the subject and not how he wrote it. In subsequent chapters, Singh described important events of his life. His diplomatic missions, his work as an editor of Yojana and Illustrated weekly, the emergency period, and much more. The chapter where Singh talked about his work as an editor of Yojana and Illustrated Weekly gave me what I wanted to really know: how he went about his work. He told how he travelled the whole country for finding themes for the magazines and how he build a famous magazine out of scratch.
At the end, I am not fully satisfied nor fully dissatisfied. This autobiography tells a great deal about the author, but only at a superficial level. The writing is engrossing, witty, and full of lively metaphors and english and Urdu poems. His travelling experiences, his work experiences, and his experiences of women were many and made for a good read. The book gave valuable insights to historical events and helped to know what happened behind the doors. If only the book had the elements of author's inner beliefs and feelings, this autobiography would have been truly complete.
September 14, 2020
Truth, Love and a Little Malice is Khushwant Singh autobiography and lives up to its title in every manner. Khushwant Singh wrote and published it in the mid-nineties when he was biting his 80’s, assuming there wasn’t enough time left, but much like his long memory, life gave him another 20 years before ending in 2014. He was 99 at the time and on the topic of death he had quoted a couplet of Iqbal:
“You ask me about the signs of a man of faith? When death comes to him, he has a smile on his lips.”
I did not know much about Khushwant Singh before this book. I knew he was somebody - but for the most part of my life I thought he was a comedian because I had read one of his bawdy comic books as a kid (not age appropriate at all).
Khushwant Singh belonged to a fading generation of people who had grown up in the pre-partition India, witnessed the partition, and lived through the years of tumult as the two nations struggled. Born in 1914 in the village of Hadali in Punjab (now in Pakistan) Khushwant recounts his journey from childhood, adolescence, adulthood and following years while covering cities and hopping countries. The book is divided into chapters that cover various decades of his life.
Writing with candor, recalling with wit and reminiscing with sentiment - he remembers so much that at occasion his memory leaves the reader stunned. You see him rubbing shoulders with some of the most eminent and/or notorious people of those times (some already famous and some not yet). He is brutal and honest in his assessment/recollection of people and events (Turns out he had trouble initially publishing the book for this very reason - Indira Gandhis daughter-in-law slapped a lawsuit on the book for character assasination). He belonged to a small group of influential people on both sides of the border that believed in peace and wanted peace (which I find admirable)
“I believe I did succeed in making Indian Muslims look upon me as a friend: when I was nominated to be a member of the Rajya Sabha many said, "We have another Muslim in Parliament." Others who disliked my views called me an unpaid agent of Pakistan. I treated both views as compliments.”
But my admiration is not unequivocal. When reading someone’s autobiography you end up becoming acquainted with their personality a little too well. Khushwant had his shortcomings - most glaring was his attitude towards women and how he predominantly viewed them as objects of desire. While he makes no secret of that - this admittance of it is not an absolution.
Why read: Khushwant Singh is someone who neither spared man or God. His life is fascinating - he writes about a good 80 years which covers some of the most important events that we read now as history. His wit and recollection of amazing urdu poetry is a delight as well.
“You ask me about the signs of a man of faith? When death comes to him, he has a smile on his lips.”
I did not know much about Khushwant Singh before this book. I knew he was somebody - but for the most part of my life I thought he was a comedian because I had read one of his bawdy comic books as a kid (not age appropriate at all).
Khushwant Singh belonged to a fading generation of people who had grown up in the pre-partition India, witnessed the partition, and lived through the years of tumult as the two nations struggled. Born in 1914 in the village of Hadali in Punjab (now in Pakistan) Khushwant recounts his journey from childhood, adolescence, adulthood and following years while covering cities and hopping countries. The book is divided into chapters that cover various decades of his life.
Writing with candor, recalling with wit and reminiscing with sentiment - he remembers so much that at occasion his memory leaves the reader stunned. You see him rubbing shoulders with some of the most eminent and/or notorious people of those times (some already famous and some not yet). He is brutal and honest in his assessment/recollection of people and events (Turns out he had trouble initially publishing the book for this very reason - Indira Gandhis daughter-in-law slapped a lawsuit on the book for character assasination). He belonged to a small group of influential people on both sides of the border that believed in peace and wanted peace (which I find admirable)
“I believe I did succeed in making Indian Muslims look upon me as a friend: when I was nominated to be a member of the Rajya Sabha many said, "We have another Muslim in Parliament." Others who disliked my views called me an unpaid agent of Pakistan. I treated both views as compliments.”
But my admiration is not unequivocal. When reading someone’s autobiography you end up becoming acquainted with their personality a little too well. Khushwant had his shortcomings - most glaring was his attitude towards women and how he predominantly viewed them as objects of desire. While he makes no secret of that - this admittance of it is not an absolution.
Why read: Khushwant Singh is someone who neither spared man or God. His life is fascinating - he writes about a good 80 years which covers some of the most important events that we read now as history. His wit and recollection of amazing urdu poetry is a delight as well.
May 13, 2012
There is chapter 'wrestling with almighty' in this book. After reading this book cover to cover, I read that chapter again. This is not only the best part of book but the philosophy of 97 year old, cognizant and well read man.
When I want to read something very special, I pick this book to read this chapter. If a person is not interested in reading complete book just read this chapter.
February 8, 2016
A weird sentimental ending to this book, by a non-sentimental but emotional sardarji!
I regret the delay at which I found out about classy Indian authors such as KS, who wrote to the point and with no wasted words. His acerbic wit, combined with his urbane vocabulary, to describe indigenous terms and processes, in my humble opinion, was his USP!
I salute the man and his pen!
I regret the delay at which I found out about classy Indian authors such as KS, who wrote to the point and with no wasted words. His acerbic wit, combined with his urbane vocabulary, to describe indigenous terms and processes, in my humble opinion, was his USP!
I salute the man and his pen!
December 26, 2021
Truth, Love & A Little Malice
Khushwant Singh.
Rating 4/5
I have to admit, I like Khushwant Singh and his writings. There are some pieces which I did not like, but over here, its about his autobiography. A person who is in his 80's writing candidly. You can imagine the amount of memories and experiences he might be carrying with him. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It started with pre-partition India and went ahead with many major incidents including Emergency and Operation Blue Star.
All along Khushwant Singh has, in easy sentences and words described his life. His childhood, his education in England, law practice in Lahore, teaching assignments, as an editor then Member of Parliament. There are loads of people whom he mentions. Imagine being in the circle of MA Jinnah, Dr S RadhaKrishnan, Pandit Nehru, Nirad C Chaudhri, Akalis, Bindranwale, Ruth Brawyer, Raj Kapoor, Nargis Dutt, even Vikram Seth for that matter. Many of his Lahore contemporaries ended up being famous.
Khushwant Singh has touched many a people's life with his writing. Hats off.
This book gives you accurate insight into his up bringing. He was from a rich family and was lucky to be at the right place at the right time. He was aptly intelligent and Post partition India needed people for various fields and Khushwant Singh was there doing his best.
One thing I greatly admire and salute is the candidness in which he admits chosing writing over law, giving up posts in Foreign offices, being fired from the job, his conflicts with various people.
One thing which I do not really vouch is his opinion of people. It may be accurate or not, I really do not know. But I am no one to judge others based on his opinion.
One thing which I enjoyed the most was Khushwant Singh getting snobbed by Panditji on more than one occasion. So was his mother calling him Besharam on reading Mano Majra. Also equally witty was his take on Dr S Radhakrishnan.
Best read autobiography for me in a while.
Cheers.
Khushwant Singh.
Rating 4/5
I have to admit, I like Khushwant Singh and his writings. There are some pieces which I did not like, but over here, its about his autobiography. A person who is in his 80's writing candidly. You can imagine the amount of memories and experiences he might be carrying with him. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It started with pre-partition India and went ahead with many major incidents including Emergency and Operation Blue Star.
All along Khushwant Singh has, in easy sentences and words described his life. His childhood, his education in England, law practice in Lahore, teaching assignments, as an editor then Member of Parliament. There are loads of people whom he mentions. Imagine being in the circle of MA Jinnah, Dr S RadhaKrishnan, Pandit Nehru, Nirad C Chaudhri, Akalis, Bindranwale, Ruth Brawyer, Raj Kapoor, Nargis Dutt, even Vikram Seth for that matter. Many of his Lahore contemporaries ended up being famous.
Khushwant Singh has touched many a people's life with his writing. Hats off.
This book gives you accurate insight into his up bringing. He was from a rich family and was lucky to be at the right place at the right time. He was aptly intelligent and Post partition India needed people for various fields and Khushwant Singh was there doing his best.
One thing I greatly admire and salute is the candidness in which he admits chosing writing over law, giving up posts in Foreign offices, being fired from the job, his conflicts with various people.
One thing which I do not really vouch is his opinion of people. It may be accurate or not, I really do not know. But I am no one to judge others based on his opinion.
One thing which I enjoyed the most was Khushwant Singh getting snobbed by Panditji on more than one occasion. So was his mother calling him Besharam on reading Mano Majra. Also equally witty was his take on Dr S Radhakrishnan.
Best read autobiography for me in a while.
Cheers.
Read
January 29, 2008No doublt Khuswant Singh a fantastic fiction writer in the present sub-continent, have great creative futusion, rythme of sentence with nostugic appeal and a melodious items and obviously a great story teller sine early fifties.
Although Truth Love and a Little Malice stated Khuswant own biography but have crutial political adventurous views with involvement and actor as not only in creative sector but also in problem solving. The books divided into several parts from early age of writer, his village days with his grandmother in a Pakistan;s state, young colleges life, university day, London times, foreign missionary duties, travelling and finaly lot of experience as both a writer and a diplomatic performer.
The books content the political behaviour of Indian Parliament in lower house called BIDHANSOVA.
The political killing and causes of reflection into people mind mainly the SIC COMMUNITY, the most sufferer after India divided into two parts like India and Pakistan folowing Redcliff theory of state partition.
The book belong some histrical emphasis with Indian most noted politician's family conflict and problems. Khuswant overnoted the demographic movement of community people as well as government duet policy in employment and political unconsusness.
Finaly, It's a book that banned in India more than 12 years due to personal clause.
Historical climax and power changes of healthy Indian Parliament and their fruitless speaking in lossing people tax without any clear notice are clearly explain with narrative scence.
Khuswant is a tremendous story teller without any tiredness, which attract readers musicaly.
It is also a record of Indian media relevant so called fictionic policies.
Reza Ghatok
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Cell: 88-01199521759.
Although Truth Love and a Little Malice stated Khuswant own biography but have crutial political adventurous views with involvement and actor as not only in creative sector but also in problem solving. The books divided into several parts from early age of writer, his village days with his grandmother in a Pakistan;s state, young colleges life, university day, London times, foreign missionary duties, travelling and finaly lot of experience as both a writer and a diplomatic performer.
The books content the political behaviour of Indian Parliament in lower house called BIDHANSOVA.
The political killing and causes of reflection into people mind mainly the SIC COMMUNITY, the most sufferer after India divided into two parts like India and Pakistan folowing Redcliff theory of state partition.
The book belong some histrical emphasis with Indian most noted politician's family conflict and problems. Khuswant overnoted the demographic movement of community people as well as government duet policy in employment and political unconsusness.
Finaly, It's a book that banned in India more than 12 years due to personal clause.
Historical climax and power changes of healthy Indian Parliament and their fruitless speaking in lossing people tax without any clear notice are clearly explain with narrative scence.
Khuswant is a tremendous story teller without any tiredness, which attract readers musicaly.
It is also a record of Indian media relevant so called fictionic policies.
Reza Ghatok
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Cell: 88-01199521759.
June 23, 2014
It was an enjoyable and easy read. I like the man more after reading his biography. It offered an honest account of his friends, foes and friends who bordered on being foes. His was a life well lived. He believed in working hard despite being born to a rich property developer father. He was poor in studies, practised law but didn't like it, moved to foreign service and public relations, enjoyed working and living in the UK, was generous with food and scotch to many, liked being with good looking women but remained respectful (and possibly faithful) towards his wife despite their differences, and even while giving the impression of being a dirty old man, he was actually a gentleman in many ways. He liked writing, made his publications successful, took many offers that came his way and remained a disciplined writer. His soft corner for Pakistan, muslims in general and urdu poetry were all there for the reader to know and appreciate. His language feels like he used a dictionary to dig out uncommon words and yet the prose is simple. The account feels truthful that is full of affection for many and malice for some.
February 5, 2016
Surprisingly for an author who was not only funded by various universities and other prestigious institutions of US, UK and India, and edited several books and several periodicals, this autobiography has inexplicable typos or spelling mistakes of trivial sort - and very noticeably so.
If one is put off by copious references and more copious descriptions of nether equipment of various characters including the author, and lacks the patience and determination to go past it to see why this person was so famous and had such status, this book is not what one ought to take up.
At that it is uncertain if one should even if one does possess the virtues needed to go through it - rewards are very few, say one reference to a charmed moonlit night with nightingale, and another to magnolias (which he does not seem to have noticed blossom in Europe too, and in India in cooler places, albeit another variety - golden from cream to gold-saffron shades, in relatively less cool places too).
Other than this, one repents having read it, especially if one is not interested in gossip and malice and huge egomania of the author, especially when it is against good people, or when he seems not to notice he is criticising those that share his most severe faults. For instance he complains about a fellow author who was more interested in precisely what he himself describes copiously, rather than blossoming fields of saffron or other beauties of India he was shown - and fails to notice the irony of the complaint (or was that a deliberate devilish act, complaining against someone else who does it, just so one says "oh, but you know, you are doing it too" and he has his laughter about how naughty he has been both ways?).
What happened when I proceeded to begin this review was almost surrealistically as if KGB knew I was going to write negatively about a small tool of their infamous boss, and proceeded to undo various settings for security of my pc - sites inviting me to buy horrendous unwanted stuff would not go away, and advertisements pretending to be chat sites where supposedly young attractive blond females kept plaguing the pages of shelfari and reappearing. When I managed to remove it all, my computer informed me they had changed the dangerous settings I had installed, and the filth reappeared. It was almost a premonition about this book, except it was after reading it and before being able to begin writing this review.
It is unlikely this guy was a tool of stalin, but you never know, after all there would not be a label to the effect would there, except he was more likely working for the other side, what with his various prestigious assignments from US mentioned extensively here - from Rockefeller foundation funding his writing about history of his people (which he assures us is the only reason he maintained his hair and dressing style for, not religion but communal identification), to teaching at various universities including Princeton. All this would point at his being a great mind and a scholar, if not for reading this book or other pieces elsewhere, where such a calibre is notable by its absence. And if he wished to hide it for sake of appearing a buffoon only so his hidden career would go unnoticed, then the various prestigious scholarly assignments and copious funding thereof by various institutions of the world is completely baffling.
The author is a product of what might transpire if the much maligned caste systems of India or even England and Europe generally - although the latter two are different from that of India, and were practised in colonies very differently when it came to local people - are demolished with no other system to take their place. The author was born into a family that was placed by sheer luck in way of destiny, in that his father was one of the builders given contract to build New Delhi, built a major part of it (and his own palatial homes in centre of the new city, with "leftover" material and labour), was knighted for the trouble apart from the wealth made on this project, and thus the family was in high circles of politics and hoi polloi of the city and the nation, with contacts that were therefore not merely local or national but international, and various prestigious assignments one after another as he himself went on giving up job after job deciding it did not suit him, having proved no merit for either the next assignment or the past one, and definitely not of the level he kept on getting more and more of.
This basically is society as it gets if all old caste systems with breeding and training in family and society is done away with - money buys everything through social contacts if not directly, while poor with real and far superior talent go begging.
Various refugees and migrants of various lands one has known over decades share this, with one another largely and specifically with this author, that they hate having had to leave for survival, they grieve and mourn those that they left, they attempt to befriend then over life just so they themselves are not guilty of having left for just reason, and they turn their grief and pain of separation into a subtle or open tool of disdain and derision against precisely the land, the nation that gave them a life, a refuge, honour and more.
This author is honest in admitting and declaring how unfriendly the people of the homeland he was separated from were, but he is not merely attempting to befriend them lifelong, he is forever denying the nation they created is doing anything wrong, even when it is all too obvious; and he disdains and more, generally and specifically, the people who made his final homeland possible at all. It is as if the freedom, the possibility of learning and achieving a social status, is all merely his due, as is destroying all sorts of people who were on the whole beyond good, while befriending dictators and worse of his earlier home.
And having done his worst in all of this he proceeds to complain about the visitor who notices filth more than beauty shown him by the author.
Why does one read this, one might ask. Apart from a wish not to be put off by his deliberate filth in the first few pages, one might wish to know more about the history of the nation told in an intimate view - his father built New Delhi, he lived amongst the hoi polloi of the land and knew people of wealth and power in Delhi over the lifetime of his long life - and one might have read another, far more interesting and better written account by another, younger, author. The aims of reading if limited to this fail, however. He is there to expose anyone of quality with a view of their backside exposed so to speak figuratively, as long as they are of majority of India. Or anything respected by the said majority.
For example he congratulates himself about having saved Penguin India by pointing at an extremely offensive part of Ginsberg's book describing all Goddesses of India as prostitutes, final result being the book was published in India without the said offensive part but elsewhere with it, with no protest from either India or majority of India, but he stands by ban on Salman Rushdie in India, with no comment in that context about freedom of speech or authors.
One wonders if the hypocrisy is deliberately exposed by him here, just to see if he could set fire to majority of India by informing them of Ginsberg's offensive remarks, or if he wished to see if they read him at all and reacted if they did. Wonder if it was a disappointment, in that so far there seems to have been no protest against Ginsberg in India.
If one does not read this, one has lost very little.
.................................................................................
MONDAY, APRIL 6, 2015.
.................................................................................
.................................................................................
Thursday, APRIL 16, 2015.
.................................................................................
If one is put off by copious references and more copious descriptions of nether equipment of various characters including the author, and lacks the patience and determination to go past it to see why this person was so famous and had such status, this book is not what one ought to take up.
At that it is uncertain if one should even if one does possess the virtues needed to go through it - rewards are very few, say one reference to a charmed moonlit night with nightingale, and another to magnolias (which he does not seem to have noticed blossom in Europe too, and in India in cooler places, albeit another variety - golden from cream to gold-saffron shades, in relatively less cool places too).
Other than this, one repents having read it, especially if one is not interested in gossip and malice and huge egomania of the author, especially when it is against good people, or when he seems not to notice he is criticising those that share his most severe faults. For instance he complains about a fellow author who was more interested in precisely what he himself describes copiously, rather than blossoming fields of saffron or other beauties of India he was shown - and fails to notice the irony of the complaint (or was that a deliberate devilish act, complaining against someone else who does it, just so one says "oh, but you know, you are doing it too" and he has his laughter about how naughty he has been both ways?).
What happened when I proceeded to begin this review was almost surrealistically as if KGB knew I was going to write negatively about a small tool of their infamous boss, and proceeded to undo various settings for security of my pc - sites inviting me to buy horrendous unwanted stuff would not go away, and advertisements pretending to be chat sites where supposedly young attractive blond females kept plaguing the pages of shelfari and reappearing. When I managed to remove it all, my computer informed me they had changed the dangerous settings I had installed, and the filth reappeared. It was almost a premonition about this book, except it was after reading it and before being able to begin writing this review.
It is unlikely this guy was a tool of stalin, but you never know, after all there would not be a label to the effect would there, except he was more likely working for the other side, what with his various prestigious assignments from US mentioned extensively here - from Rockefeller foundation funding his writing about history of his people (which he assures us is the only reason he maintained his hair and dressing style for, not religion but communal identification), to teaching at various universities including Princeton. All this would point at his being a great mind and a scholar, if not for reading this book or other pieces elsewhere, where such a calibre is notable by its absence. And if he wished to hide it for sake of appearing a buffoon only so his hidden career would go unnoticed, then the various prestigious scholarly assignments and copious funding thereof by various institutions of the world is completely baffling.
The author is a product of what might transpire if the much maligned caste systems of India or even England and Europe generally - although the latter two are different from that of India, and were practised in colonies very differently when it came to local people - are demolished with no other system to take their place. The author was born into a family that was placed by sheer luck in way of destiny, in that his father was one of the builders given contract to build New Delhi, built a major part of it (and his own palatial homes in centre of the new city, with "leftover" material and labour), was knighted for the trouble apart from the wealth made on this project, and thus the family was in high circles of politics and hoi polloi of the city and the nation, with contacts that were therefore not merely local or national but international, and various prestigious assignments one after another as he himself went on giving up job after job deciding it did not suit him, having proved no merit for either the next assignment or the past one, and definitely not of the level he kept on getting more and more of.
This basically is society as it gets if all old caste systems with breeding and training in family and society is done away with - money buys everything through social contacts if not directly, while poor with real and far superior talent go begging.
Various refugees and migrants of various lands one has known over decades share this, with one another largely and specifically with this author, that they hate having had to leave for survival, they grieve and mourn those that they left, they attempt to befriend then over life just so they themselves are not guilty of having left for just reason, and they turn their grief and pain of separation into a subtle or open tool of disdain and derision against precisely the land, the nation that gave them a life, a refuge, honour and more.
This author is honest in admitting and declaring how unfriendly the people of the homeland he was separated from were, but he is not merely attempting to befriend them lifelong, he is forever denying the nation they created is doing anything wrong, even when it is all too obvious; and he disdains and more, generally and specifically, the people who made his final homeland possible at all. It is as if the freedom, the possibility of learning and achieving a social status, is all merely his due, as is destroying all sorts of people who were on the whole beyond good, while befriending dictators and worse of his earlier home.
And having done his worst in all of this he proceeds to complain about the visitor who notices filth more than beauty shown him by the author.
Why does one read this, one might ask. Apart from a wish not to be put off by his deliberate filth in the first few pages, one might wish to know more about the history of the nation told in an intimate view - his father built New Delhi, he lived amongst the hoi polloi of the land and knew people of wealth and power in Delhi over the lifetime of his long life - and one might have read another, far more interesting and better written account by another, younger, author. The aims of reading if limited to this fail, however. He is there to expose anyone of quality with a view of their backside exposed so to speak figuratively, as long as they are of majority of India. Or anything respected by the said majority.
For example he congratulates himself about having saved Penguin India by pointing at an extremely offensive part of Ginsberg's book describing all Goddesses of India as prostitutes, final result being the book was published in India without the said offensive part but elsewhere with it, with no protest from either India or majority of India, but he stands by ban on Salman Rushdie in India, with no comment in that context about freedom of speech or authors.
One wonders if the hypocrisy is deliberately exposed by him here, just to see if he could set fire to majority of India by informing them of Ginsberg's offensive remarks, or if he wished to see if they read him at all and reacted if they did. Wonder if it was a disappointment, in that so far there seems to have been no protest against Ginsberg in India.
If one does not read this, one has lost very little.
.................................................................................
MONDAY, APRIL 6, 2015.
.................................................................................
.................................................................................
Thursday, APRIL 16, 2015.
.................................................................................
July 30, 2020
The Indian Forrest Gump
I have always thought autobiographies did a poor job at being objective. I prefere biographies any day. All humans have their biases and try to portray themselves favorably. i thought the same about this book. I couldn't have been more wrong.
This is by far the best autobiography i've come across. And the best part is that it reads like a masala novel full of gossip and uncensored views of the author about many public personalities of India. The personal lives of not only khushwant singh but all those he came across have been dealt with candor.
Khushwant Singh has lived a fullfilled life in every sense of the word. He was in the founding batch of
students at Delhi's Modern School, when it was still located in Daryagunj, friends with the founder's children, went to St Stephen's College when it was still an Inter College.
He has crossed paths with the most important public personalities of India over many decades. From Nehru to Krishna Menon, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Maulana Azad to the world of art with the likes of Amrtia Shergill and many many others.
This book has it all. His views based on his personal interactions with many eminent public figures give us a side to them which would be considered too bold for conventional literature on political figures.
The books flows smoothly and is written in such a casual manner that it feels more like having a drawing room conversation with Mr Singh rather than a 500 page autobiogrphy.
One of my favorites autobiographies. Highly recommended.
I have always thought autobiographies did a poor job at being objective. I prefere biographies any day. All humans have their biases and try to portray themselves favorably. i thought the same about this book. I couldn't have been more wrong.
This is by far the best autobiography i've come across. And the best part is that it reads like a masala novel full of gossip and uncensored views of the author about many public personalities of India. The personal lives of not only khushwant singh but all those he came across have been dealt with candor.
Khushwant Singh has lived a fullfilled life in every sense of the word. He was in the founding batch of
students at Delhi's Modern School, when it was still located in Daryagunj, friends with the founder's children, went to St Stephen's College when it was still an Inter College.
He has crossed paths with the most important public personalities of India over many decades. From Nehru to Krishna Menon, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Maulana Azad to the world of art with the likes of Amrtia Shergill and many many others.
This book has it all. His views based on his personal interactions with many eminent public figures give us a side to them which would be considered too bold for conventional literature on political figures.
The books flows smoothly and is written in such a casual manner that it feels more like having a drawing room conversation with Mr Singh rather than a 500 page autobiogrphy.
One of my favorites autobiographies. Highly recommended.
June 19, 2024
he is, a 'dirty old man' who knows he is a dirty old man and he has lived a long, privileged life. this is the perfect mixture for a sensitive yet intelligent mind from upper class to have, for he has an origin story, albeit a one- dimensional one for all the major events that transpired in 20th century India. This could be because he is not preoccupied by his lack of resources, he is free to dabble with ideas and decisions which would come across to most as a privilege. this allows the man to have a bird's eye view and notice history in the making and after. his hindsight, which was informed through this memoir is seriously intriguing.
September 1, 2024
A wonderfully written, candid, and humorous memoir. Khushwant Singh is one of the finest Indian-origin English-language writers. This memoir describes his interactions with people both famous and infamous, his delightful zest towards life, and his ability to always call a spade a spade. This book will make you chuckle quite a few times as he reveals some of the most private conversations and events in many famous persons' lives. His agnosticism is much to admire and he devotes a full chapter to it, detailing his views on religion. The book is very lucidly written and it's a shame I took so long to read it.
May 10, 2018
Very engaging, quite interesting, moderately written and hilarious. It's easy to praise the book, harder to praise the writer. Not a very likeable man, but such a fascinating perspective and a curious mind. Definitely made me look at things from not only a new but a hitherto unfathomable perspective. Very straightforward, and that unpretentious voice is his redeeming quality, though I'm certain many would disagree. It's written as a classic autobiographical work - saying all that you want to say, because your "time" is near. He's written more memoir after this one, and I'd be interested to know what went into them.
December 15, 2019
First part about his early years is too boring but then it picks up the momentum. Through out his early life, he didn’t achieve much and got in to reputed institutions only because of his family background. But that enabled him to get close to “the people of substance” who shaped his story. He clearly has inclination for Urdu language and quoted Iqbal multiple times. Full marks to his honesty though.
January 31, 2025
An unfiltered view of the most dynamic person in Indian history. A great overview of how privilege and money makes a man glide through some tough times in the Indian independence movement and thereafter. Born with a silver spoon up his ass Mr Singh was a pervy old man but also a great writer and an even funny human. Overall a great entertaining read which provides some good insight about major things in history.
July 8, 2022
Always treat to read khushwant singh. His writings have never bored me. The more i read him, the more i long to read him. This book details about his life experiences since childhood. He has written simply and honestly the incidents of his life in a interesting way that it becomes difficult for a reader to put the book down.
December 27, 2016
Enough good.
September 24, 2015
Truth, Love and a Little Malice is the autobiography of the late Mr. Khushwant Singh. Mr K.S is a prolific writer, Journalist, Diplomat, One-term Member of Parliament (Upper House), and a Lawyer ( a bad one, in his view). He is better known as “The Dirty Old-man of Delhi” for his jokes and provocative fictional writings like “The Company of Woman”. His fictional works might reinforce the image of “The Dirty Old-man of Delhi” especially borderline-erotica like “Delhi”, “The Company of Woman”. His fictional work didn’t strike a chord with me and haven’t properly read a K.S book until now. But since his passing in 2014, I developed an interest in K.S and his work especially after watching one of his old interview. I decided to read his auto-biography and I’m glad that I did.
K.S was born into a wealthy Sikh family in Hadali, West Punjab. K.S takes us through his remarkable life of an Upper-class Indian under the British-Raj. He also shares many anecdotes about eminent personalities of his time and his friendship, feuds with his famous friends/frenemies.
I was expecting a serious introspective analysis of his life and times since he is an esteemed writer/journalist but the work turns out to be a light-hearted, funny, at times superficial nonetheless entertaining. K.S comes across as a likeable, friendly, honest person who doesn’t take himself seriously. He is also a bit of a tattletale who doesn’t mind to drop names and his honest opinion of them.
I really had a good time reading it. Looking forward to read his other works.
K.S was born into a wealthy Sikh family in Hadali, West Punjab. K.S takes us through his remarkable life of an Upper-class Indian under the British-Raj. He also shares many anecdotes about eminent personalities of his time and his friendship, feuds with his famous friends/frenemies.
I was expecting a serious introspective analysis of his life and times since he is an esteemed writer/journalist but the work turns out to be a light-hearted, funny, at times superficial nonetheless entertaining. K.S comes across as a likeable, friendly, honest person who doesn’t take himself seriously. He is also a bit of a tattletale who doesn’t mind to drop names and his honest opinion of them.
I really had a good time reading it. Looking forward to read his other works.
December 29, 2019
Kushwant on Kushwant is irresistible!
Khushwant, who's more famous for his series of joke books, was more than that. He was a lawyer, journalist, diplomat, writer and a parliamentarian who is often identified with the title 'The Dirty Old Man'. This memoir is a blunt and honest account of his life and the events he was witness to which covers the entire 20th century India. Anyone who has read him, more particularly men, cannot help but admire his audacity and lifestyle. The memoir is entitled 'Truth love and a little malice'. I can't vouch for the truth and love but insofar as malice is concerned I can vouchsafe that this memoir is laced with an extra peg of malice and single malt. Kushwant singh has written scores of books and I can say with all humility that I've read almost every one of them. In fact his works have gone a long way in shaping my thoughts and deeds. This book had been sleeping in my cupboard for more than four years since I wanted this memoir to be the last book of Kushwant's that I wanted to read. Believe me! If you've read a great deal of Kushwant Singh, a reading of this memoir will give you the warmth of homecoming!
Khushwant, who's more famous for his series of joke books, was more than that. He was a lawyer, journalist, diplomat, writer and a parliamentarian who is often identified with the title 'The Dirty Old Man'. This memoir is a blunt and honest account of his life and the events he was witness to which covers the entire 20th century India. Anyone who has read him, more particularly men, cannot help but admire his audacity and lifestyle. The memoir is entitled 'Truth love and a little malice'. I can't vouch for the truth and love but insofar as malice is concerned I can vouchsafe that this memoir is laced with an extra peg of malice and single malt. Kushwant singh has written scores of books and I can say with all humility that I've read almost every one of them. In fact his works have gone a long way in shaping my thoughts and deeds. This book had been sleeping in my cupboard for more than four years since I wanted this memoir to be the last book of Kushwant's that I wanted to read. Believe me! If you've read a great deal of Kushwant Singh, a reading of this memoir will give you the warmth of homecoming!
July 27, 2014
Little can I say that will add to describe one of the most prolific writers India has witnessed. This book is filled with Khushwantji's trademark sharp wit and humor, along with his universal solution to every problem, a glass of scotch.
This book manages to encompass the evolution of the modern Indian writer in the most comprehensive, yet concise manner. Sorry Chetan Bhagat, no mention of you here.
Raw uninhibited emotions, stripped down to the bone, no pretensions what so ever.
As Hindustan Times described it, HUGELY READABLE!
This book manages to encompass the evolution of the modern Indian writer in the most comprehensive, yet concise manner. Sorry Chetan Bhagat, no mention of you here.
Raw uninhibited emotions, stripped down to the bone, no pretensions what so ever.
As Hindustan Times described it, HUGELY READABLE!
January 9, 2011
very badly written so read it for the anecdotes, views on his contemporaries and gossip etc which it is full of
August 20, 2011
Read this long back and the title is exactly what the book is about !!
October 14, 2012
A hugely readable Memoir
July 19, 2015
A recommended readable memoir.
Nicely written and very well structured.
A great man, a great writer. Always heard about him and him being controversial, and now, I have the idea why :)
Nicely written and very well structured.
A great man, a great writer. Always heard about him and him being controversial, and now, I have the idea why :)
June 2, 2016
An excellent read!
August 5, 2025
Candid, funny, bold and profound. If you want to experience vicariousness via someone's life, then Khuswant Singh is the guy.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 152 reviews