The Vintage Sardar Book Review

Khushwant Singh stands out for his tongue in cheek style in writing. While he is not too famous as a story teller, he has carved a special niche for himself with candid essays and opinioned write-ups. He is a famous personality in print media for his journalistic write-ups but among the common readers too, he has a great fan-following thanks to his unpretentious persona.

The Vintage Sardar, published by Penguin in the year 2002, is a collection of his essays on a myriad of subjects like the people in his life (mostly celebs and politicians), his travels, his love-hate relations with nature and spirituality, his wandering on subjects like death and after life. His writing style keeps us glued to the content.

Singh points fingers at biased views and restrictions on literary expression in the banning of Salman Rushdie. His narrative style gets all the more intriguing as he recounts the life story of the famous she-bandit Phoolan Devi. His interaction with famous artists Amrita Shergil gives us a sneak peak into her unusual sex life.

When he discusses Life, Death and After Life, the narrative is in the conversational tone making the write-up sound like a friendly discussion. The author is as clueless about the subject as the reader and doesn't take us any nearer to the truth.

He raises questions about blind faith in the essays like "Let Us Clean Our Temples, Sants and Saints and Sati and Hindu-Sikh Psyche.

Being a Delh-ite, his love and interaction with nature is marvelous which he expresses in the essays Songs of Monsoon, Mango Fool and Dog Love.

Travelogues are usually long but Singh maintains his crisp style even in this section too. He has a hand-picked collection of essays depicting life in Bhubaneshwar, Hyderabad, Assam, London and Delhi.

What the modern readers will enjoy most will most probably be the section- Speaking Of Sex. It is like visiting the ancient Indian wisdom that celebrated Sex as the supreme integration of one's energies, a secret of fulfillment at large.

As Singh deals with subjects like Death, After life and Salvation, there is a sense of superficiality and the reader fails to reach to any conclusion. The questions remain dangling as ever.

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