Khushwant Singh plays to the gallery at new book’s release

NEW DELHI - Writer-columnist Khushwant Singh, 96, Tuesday played to the gallery, gently ribbing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s wife Gursharan Kaur, who released his new novel, “Sunset Club”.

“I am sure this is going to be my last book. No more books… each time I write a book, I promise myself that thus is going to be my last book. And I have said that about six times,” Khushwant Singh told the packed audience at the Le Meridien Hotel.

The writer chose the occasion to take a walk down the past - taking his readers through a brief history of his life.

“I was meant to be a lawyer, but I got a job as a diplomat. I found it very boring and then I started writing. My first collection of short stories was published in London …and I threw up my job. Anyhow I started writing books, got little money. Then came the break,” he recalled.

The break gave him sustenance. “I decided upon a three word formula - inform, amuse and provoke… With provoke, I found that anytime I write something about people, they took me to court,” he said.

The years have worn him down - but have not put him down.

“Now at 96, I don’t know how long I can carry on . I am trying to learn how to do nothing. If I make a century, I will be happy,” he said.

Khushwant Singh quoted poet Hillaire Belloc: “I hope when I am dead, it will be said, his sins were scarlet, but his books were read”.

Releasing the book, Gursharan Kaur said the honour to release it was bestowed upon her, and she accepted it.

“Khushwant Singh knows that I am an obedient person. … and it is a privilege for me to be in his good books. Khushwant Singh tried very hard to convert me to convert into an author - I kept on saying ‘I will, I will’ but who has the time and the will to write. Never mind, I told him our middle daughter was writing about us,” she said.

The writer in turn recalled how he kept the flowers sent by Gursharan Kaur and Manmohan Singh atop the pile of his books for people to enquire and know that they came from the prime minister’s home.

The launch was preceded by a short movie themed on, “Not a Nice Man to Know, But A Good One”- a tribute to the “youthful spirit, candour, wit, the honesty of the man and his 20 cats” by his old associates like M.J. Akbar, Vikram Seth, Mani Shankar Aiyer, Nandini Mehra, his cook Chandan and typist Lacchman Dass.

“Sunset Club”, as Khushwant Singh says, is an allusion to death, love and his philosophy of life.

Friends for over 40 years, Pandit Preetam Singh, Nawab Barkatullah Baig, and Sardar Boota Singh are the Sunset Club. In their 80s, the three old men sit together on a bench in Lodhi Gardens to exchange news and views on the events of the day.

They wax eloquent about everything - from love, lust, sex and scandal to religion and politics. The writer follows the three men through three grey years of their life to Jan 26, 2010.

Khushwant Singh brings the three to life with his portrayals of foibles, his ear for dialogue and his genius for capturing the flavour and texture of everyday life. Interwoven with his story is another chronicle, of a year in the life of India - as the country goes through the cycle of seasons, the tumult of general elections, violence natural disasters and corruption in high places.

The book explores friendship, old age and infirmity, India’s paradoxes, complexities and sexuality.

Love fades, lust lasts, Singh said earlier in the day in an interview.