Remembering Khushwant in Kasauli

It takes a literature festival in Kasauli to get away from the noise of news. A weekend in the bracing hills of Himachal to attend the Khushwant Singh Literary Festival was just what the doctor had ordered.

October in the mountains is perfect weather: A light coat in the evening is enough to guard against any dip in temperature. Kasauli was where Khushwant Singh spent many a summer, reading and writing. So, it is entirely appropriate that the Kasauli club should play host to a festival that seeks to remember a writer, journalist, raconteur who was sui generis.

Khushwant liked to speak his mind, he spoke freely and with passion. He loved life and letters: the popular image of the funny sardar who enjoyed his scotch and women only masked the reality of a serious thinking man who has written a remarkable two volume book The History of the Sikhs and a number of scholarly works. And he was loved on both sides of the border: a Pakistani guest at the festival even spoke of pushing for Khushwant Singh to be awarded Nishan-e-Pakistan, the country's highest civilian award.

I have a particular reason to remember Kasauli fondly. I spent my honeymoon there many years ago. Twenty years later, I found Kasauli has changed very little: a tad more crowded, but the warmth of its people was as endearing as ever. Oh yes, my hair has greyed in this period. You can fall in love with nature, you can't fight age and time.