FRIENDS OF KHUSHWANT SINGH
WELCOME TO THE KHUSHWANT SINGH LITERARY FESTIVAL LONDON. THIS IS THE FIRST DIGITAL EDITION OF THE KHUSHWANT SINGH LITFESTS.
MY NAME IS FAKIR AIJAZUDDIN. I AM A RETIRED CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT, LIVING IN PAKISTAN. I AM AN ART-HISTORIAN BY VOCATION, SPECIALISING IN 19TH CENTURY PUNJAB.
THAT WAS MY INTRODUCTION TO KHUSHWANT SINGH. MY LAST HOMAGE TO HIM WAS TO BRING HIS ASHES FOR INTERMENT IN 2014 IN HIS BIRTHPLACE AT HADALI.
THIS LITFEST HAS BEEN MADE POSSIBLE THROUGH THE UNTRING EFFORTS OF RAHUL SINGH, NILOUFER BILLIMORIA AND THEIR TEAM, SUPPORTED THIS YEAR USING PUBLIC FINDING BY THE NATIONAL LOTTERY THROUGH THE ARTS COUNCIL, ENGLAND.
BECAUSE OF THEM, WE CAN SHARE THE JOY OF BEING ABLE TO INTERACT LIKE THIS - UNFETTERED BY BORDERS, VISAS, AND ITCHY CENSORS.
KHUSHWANT SINGH WAS NOT A VIRTUAL PERSON. HE WAS TOO VIVACIOUS, TOO VITAL, TOO TACTILE. HE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN COMFORTABLE WITH VIRTUAL CONFERENCES AS THE NEW NORM. FOR US, IN THIS COVID-STATE, IT IS.
YET HE WOULD HAVE WELCOMED THE ADAPTIVE IDEA OF ALL OF US, WHEREVER WE ARE IN THIS DIVIDED WORLD, REMEMBERING HIM, AND HONORING HIS MEMORY IN THIS COLLECTIVE WAY.
THE THEME OF THE KHUSHWANT SINGH LITERARY FESTIVAL LONDON IS: ‘NO MAN IS AN ISLAND’.
ITS VIRTUAL LOCATION IS LONDON. KHUSHWANT WOULD HAVE LOVED THE IRONY. THROUGH BREXIT, GREAT BRITAIN HAS REMINDED THE CONTINENT OF MAINLAND EUROPE THAT THE BRITISH ISLES ARE NO MORE THAN AN OFF-SHORE ISLAND.
THE ISLAND THEME WOULD HAVE FOUND SPECIAL RESONANCE WITH KHUSHWANT SINGH.
TO HIM, THERE WERE NO IRON CURTAINS, NO BAMBOO CURTAINS, NOR SAFFRON ONES.
THE ONLY CURTAIN THAT MATTERED TO HIM WAS THE CLOTH ONE THAT HUNG IN HIS FLAT IN SUJAN SINGH PARK.
IT HAD BEEN GIVEN TO HIM BY HIS FRIEND MANZUR QADIR AND WAS PRINTED WITH THE TEXT OF THE ARABIC KALIMA.
BY HANGING IT SO PROMINENTLY AT THE ENTRANCE TO HIS FLAT, HE WANTED VISITORS OF DIFFERENT RELIGIOUS PERSUASIONS TO REALISE THAT, BY PASSING THROUGH IT, THEY WOULD NOT LOSE CASTE NOR HAVE TO ABJURE THEIR RELIGION.
THEY WERE ENTERING INTO AN ANODYNE WORLD IN WHICH SCRIPT AND WORDS DID NOT MATTER. WHAT MATTERED WERE MEANINGS AND INTENT, AND ABOVE ALL BASIC HUMANISM.
KHUSHWANT WAS THE QUINTESSENTIAL HUMANIST. WHY ELSE WOULD HE HAVE DEFIED MRS INDIRA GANDHI, THEN AT THE PINNACLE OF HER HUBRIS AFTER THE 1971 WAR?
HE APPEALED TO HER CONSCIENCE (UNSUCCESSFULLY) ON BEHALF OF 93,000 PAKISTANI PRISONERS OF WAR AND CIVILANS UNDER PROTECTIVE CUSTODY.
WHY ELSE WOULD HE HAVE REMAINED SUCH A STAUNCH SON OF PUNJAB’S SOIL, AND AN ADVOCATE OF PUNJABIAT THROUGHOUT HIS 99-YEAR LONG LIFE?
AND IT WAS TO THE SOIL OF PUNJAB THAT HE ASKED TO BE RETURNED, TO BE INTERRED IN HADALI, NOW IN PAKISTAN.
IN AUGUST 1947, KHUSHWANT SINGH COULD NOT PREVENT THE PARTITION OF HIS BELOVED PUNJAB.
HE COULD NOT STOP ITS SECOND VIVISECTION WHEN, IN NOVEMBER 1966, THE STATES OF HARYANA AND HIMACHAL PRADESH WERE TORN AWAY FROM IT.
TODAY, THE TWO RESIDUAL PUNJABS ON EITHER SIDE OF WAGAH BORDER ARE ISOLATED FROM ONE OTHER BY A FALSE RAINBOW. IT IS GREEN AT ONE END, SAFFRON AT THE OTHER, WITH SHADES OF KHAKI IN BETWEEN.
IT IS BECAUSE OF THIS ENFORCED DIVIDE THAT SUCH A VIRTUAL LITFEST BECOMES SO IMPORTANT.
IT IS ALSO A TIMELY REMINDER THAT WE ARE NOT A WORLD OF STATES BUT A NECKLACE OF NATIONS, NOT A CONGREGATION OF DIVISIVE BELIEFS BUT AN AGGREGATION OF HUMAN BEINGS SHARING A COMMON FAITH, WITH RESPECT FOR EACH OTHER’S HUMANITY.
THAT OTHER HUMANIST ALDOUS HUXLEY SPOKE FOR KHUSHWANT SINGH AND ALL OF US WHEN, IN HIS NOVEL ISLAND, HE WROTE:
“WHAT ONE HAS TO LEARN IS HOW TO REMEMBER AND YET BE FREE OF THE PAST.”
HUXLEY ADDED A PRAYER. IT SHOULD REPLACE EVERY DAILY PRAYER IN EVERY RELIGION:
“GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY FAITH, BUT DELIVER US, DEAR GOD, FROM BELIEF.”
DR VIDYA DEHEJIA OPENS THE FIRST SESSION OF THE KHUSHWANT SINGH LITERATURE FESTIVAL LONDON. HER MODERATOR IS WILLIAM DALRYMPLE.
DR DEHEJIA WILL BE PRESENTING A REDISCOVERY OF INDIA IN 100 OBJECTS. IT IS AN AMBITIOUS CHALLENGE.
HOW DOES ONE COMPRESS OVER 5,000 YEARS OF DISTINCTIVE CIVILISATION INTO 100 FINITE OBJECTS?
SOME OF YOU MAY RECALL DR BRIJEN GOSWAMY’S WONDERFUL BOOK THE SPIRIT OF INDIAN PAINTING (2014), IN WHICH DISCUSSED 101 GREAT INDIAN MINIATURE PAINTINGS.
LIKE BRIJEN GOSWAMY, DR DEHEJIA IS MORE THAN QUALIFIED TO SURMOUNT SUCH A CHALLENGE.
I RECALL HER VISIT TO LAHORE IN THE 1990S, WHEN SHE WAS RESEARCHING HER BOOK ON THE DEVI. SHE SAT IN THE LAHORE MUSEUM BEFORE FOUR BASOHLI PAINTINGS FROM A TANTRIC SERIES OF THE DEVI, IN HER DIFFERENT MANIFESTATIONS.
VIDYA RECITED THE SLOKA APPLICABLE TO EACH IMAGE.
TO HER, THE PAINTINGS WERE NOT MUSEUM OBJECTS NOR ISOLATED FOLIOS. THEY WERE THE PRODUCT OF PIETY, A SUMMONS LIKE A TEMPLE BELL TO RELIGIOUS DEVOTION. THE DEVI PAINTINGS WERE THE HOMAGE TO THE PRIMEVAL CREATIVE FORCE.
THIS STORY SERVES ALSO AS A PRELUDE TO THE 3RD SESSION TODAY, TITLED THE GRAND-DAUGHTER PROJECT. ITS SUBJECT UNDERLINES BOTH KHUSHWANT SINGH’S AND THE KSLF’S CONTINUING COMMITMENT TO THE DEVI IN EVERY GIRL CHILD.
WILLIAM DALRYMPLE WILL ACT AS MODERATOR TO VIDAY’S TALK.
WILLIE IS TO 19TH CENTURY INDIA WHAT MARK TULLY OF THE BBC WAS TO 20TH CENTURY INDIA.
HE IS THE CHRONICLER OF CRISES, THE INTERPRETER OF TRENDS, A MODERN DASTANGOH OF HISTORIC BATTLES AND COURTYLY TALES THAT LEAVE US SPELL-BOUND.
HE IS A JOY TO LISTEN TO AND ADDICTIVE TO READ.
26 June 2021
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