One of India's best-known authors and journalists, Khushwant Singh elevated English writing in India with uninhibited wit and humour and was equally facile with his pen on serious issues like partition in the classic 'Train to Pakistan'.
He ruled the literary pages with his satirical take on contemporary issues but attracted controversy over what his critics called his obsession with writing on sex.
Easily switching roles between author, commentator and journalist, Singh wrote on as diverse issues as poetry and politics.
He began his dealings with media as information officer of the Government of India in Toronto and Canada and was Press attache and public officer for the High Commission in the United Kingdom and the Embassy in Ireland in 1948-50.
Later he started his writing career with Yojana, the Planning Commission's journal which he founded and edited.
Singh left a mark in the field of journalism, working as editor of the now-defunct Illustrated Weekly of India, the National Herald and the Hindustan Times. His weekly column 'With Malice Towards One and All' was so popular that it was syndicated in many dailies till a few years ago when failing health checked his prolific writing.
Son of Sir Sobha Singh, a civil contractor and a prominent builder of Lutyens' Delhi, Khushwant was born on February 2, 1915 in Hadali (now in Pakistan).
