The Lion Of The Punjab, Khushwant Singh Is No More (February 2,1915-March 20,1914) Poem by Bijay Kant Dubey

Though the people call him liberal and light,
But Khushwant Singh was not at all so,
A very serious man indeed,
Sober and elegant,
Even failing son Rahul Singh
In appearance and presentation,
Looking more smart than
And people astonished to see him,
Dyed, painted and dented.

A writer, he could tell of Elizabeth and Victoria,
Maharaja Ranjit Singh,
Nehru and Mountbatten
And the Partition literature,
Of the Sikhs and Sikhism,
The colonial and the post-colonial times
Not in terms of critical cannons and division,
But the world as he saw it,
British India and Post-1947 India.

The sense of humour which it had been so strong in him
That he could do it all
To make burst into a laughter,
To caricature it so well,
Using fun, pun and irony,
Taking about fashion, life and the trend of it,
History, politics, art and culture,
The changing scenarios and landscapes.

Adding the experiences of life in column writing,
He took us by surprise and storm,
Doing marvels with the use
Of a pinch of salt and spices,
Serving salty and spicy things to take,
Had the quality of boxing below the permissible level,
Of raking the dead
And making them stirred,
Khushwant was Khushwant,
No comparison with him anymore.