My father died as a happy man, says Khushwant Singh's son Rahul

Khushwant Singhs son Rahul (right) and daughter Mala (left) outside their house on Thursday.

While my father might have touched upon the subject of mortality in his book Train to Pakistan, in his last days, the issue of death or mortality did not perturb him. He led a very full life. He fell ill a few weeks earlier and was having trouble breathing. A doctor examined him and administered some nasal spray after which my father got well. Last evening, he took his much-loved glass of single malt scotch, as was his daily routine. He even chatted with us a little and went off to sleep at his usual time.

All seemed fine this morning as well and he finished the crossword and got up from his chair to take a nap. He never woke up.

At first we thought he was unconscious so we immediately called a doctor. The doctor told us he has had a cardiac arrest. He passed away at 12.15 pm very peacefully, just as he would have liked to. Actually it was too sudden. But it was peaceful. And I guess this is what he would have wanted for himself, to die suddenly, peacefully, without any pain or suffering.

He had pledged his eyes and a doctor came but they could not be removed as too much time had passed since his death.

What can I say about him? He was a great father and a fantastic human being. Such a gentle person, my father believed immensely in good thought and good deed. He hated hypocrisy and fundamentalism.

And how he loved to write! While I don't know of any book that he was writing, I am aware that he was working on a sort of anthology, a compilation of some of his unpublished articles, notes, and stories. He would make some notes, scribble a few lines for the compilation for a few hours each day.

But I couldn't figure out any of it for his writing was absolutely illegible.

He was mentally alert till the very end. He would read the newspapers each day and keep abreast with everything that was happening around him. Although he did not talk much in the last few days, he would chat with us a bit after dinner. We are a small family. Most days it would be my sister, me and my father. He enquired about the upcoming polls, about how and what the new Aam Aadmi Party was doing, or about (BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra) Modi.

My father did not support any particular political party or any current political ideology.

In fact, I feel that he was politically naive and simply spoke from the heart always. He called a spade a spade. Everybody now knows that he became close to (Prime Minister) Indira Gandhi, but championed the cause of Maneka Gandhi after the death of Sanjay Gandhi. Later, he fell out with the same Maneka. Also, he was very sympathetic towards Sanjay and had strongly defended him and the Emergency imposed by Indira. He even wrote a book on it.

He wrote and spoke against the RSS, the BJP and even the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Shiv Sena. He firmly believed that parties based on religion would destroy the country.

But one politician that he greatly admired was Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He often said Dr. Singh is one of the most honest and dedicated politicians he had come across. He was quite vocal about his support for Dr. Singh and often even took on his critics.

I believe that everybody who knew my father was aware of his brutal honesty. They knew that he didn't like mincing words and that is why he had friends and acquaintances from different political parties. This honesty was my father's biggest contribution and virtue as a writer.

My father led a full life, he achieved everything that he aspired to. The only thing that he wished to see before his death was better relations between India and Pakistan. I think he died a happy man. He was with family and at his house, in a city that he loved most, a city where he spent most of his time. Delhi was where his heart belonged. I think Delhi will miss him.

As told to Ayesha Arvind