Books and ME.

My Experience with Truth, Love and a Little Malice

My love affair with literature started when I first read the Illustrated version of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. I don't remember how old I was when I had read it, but all I remember is I completed the book within a week. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn followed it and as time passed my love affair with books matured into a relationship of togetherness for life.

For some time, I was toying with an idea of writing something like this. So, the idea is I write on the books I have read (Not necessary in order. I think I am not qualified enough to review the books I have read to date. My humble attempt in it would be of sharing the experiences of the books I have read. One Book at a time.

So, I would like to start with TRUTH, LOVE AND A LITTLE MALICE the autobiography of my favourite Indian Author, Late Shri Khushwant Singh.

With autobiographies or biographies, people talk more about their personal life, struggles, successes and failures. But what is so different about this book as this is again an autobiography?

I picked up this book to read as I am a big fan of Khushwant Singh. But initially, I was a bit sceptical about the book, but when I started reading it, my perspective about the book changed. The book does not talk about him as the central character. The book talks about what had happened in the country and the other parts of the world during his lifetime. So, in short country plays a central character in it whereas Khushwant Singh plays one of the characters in the entire book.

He was a witness to many historical events during his lifetime, and he had always voiced his opinion on it. He was a witness to many changes that took place in the country, including the partition. Leading such a controversial life but never failed to voice his own opinion, Khushwant sahib was a superhero in himself.

The book is so well written that while I was reading it, I could picture myself reliving the scenes. It felt like the book was about my experience. Such was the beauty in his writing. It reflected his inner thinking, which reflected well on paper through his pen.

I have read several autobiographies and biographies and I would be honest with you all that at a certain point of time; it turns out to be a bit monotonous. When I started Truth, love and a little malice, I already had read many books about him and was a big fan of his writing, and I wanted to know more about him. 413 pages and not a single paragraph was worth skipping.

Before starting it, I imagined that his life story would like the stories he had written, but as clarified by him those stories were just his fantasies. In real life, he was quite the opposite. He had a very eventful life, and adventure never ceased to leave him.

He never centred the book around him. He kept all his characters alongside the major events which happened around in his lifetime. The description of India before and after independence and how life changed after the partition was an emotional journey filled with some memories. He was a major personality, but he always believed in leading a normal life. His association with the PM's, CM's and other ministers is the highlight of his life. His selfless love for Pakistan till the day he left this mortal world reflected in this book. Among all the visits, his visit to Pakistan was always special. His undying love for the finest literature and scotch made him the darling of many inspiring writers.

Starting to write his autobiography at eighty-seven is by itself a big challenge. Many of the short stories published in different magazines were a slice of his eventful life. He has also taken even the title of the book has also from the column he used to write for the Hindustan Times. Some people found him outrageous, some found him controversial, but his ideologies were always practical. He just informed his viewpoint on life to everyone through this book. (instances of it was seen in the book).

His chapter on 'Writers & writings' is the most special one in the book. In it, he particularly lists out how different authors fared during his time. He showed us both the positive and the negative side of it. He clearly lists out the discipline to be followed if someone wants to focus on writing. In the entire book, in different segments, he had pointed out different tips on how to be a good writer with examples. For every argument he used to put forward, he had an example of some gentleman or a lady to prove it.

Late Shri Khushwant Singh was a fearless master storyteller. It was a sad day for all of us when he left us on 20 March 2014. I always believed that he had many more things to share with us but perhaps he had decided that his pen should talk no more. I was so lucky that I could relive all those moments alongside him through his book. A good writer is not about using some big fancy words but how he or she can bind their readers from the beginning to the end and he was the Godfather of keeping his readers bounded till the end.

I can go on and on writing about him and the book, but I would like to stop here. If you are enthralled by what you read, you should definitely read the book

Until I upload my experience with another book, till then take care, be safe and keep on reading. Cheers.