[Drugmachine]

Dear Prasadji

We are living in a period of intolerance and that makes it tough to sit in judgement of
whether Nirad Babu was a hero or an outcast. How rubber-kneed the Govt must be to have
not invited Salman Rushdie for the Jaipur Fest? A cartoon of Sankar that was published in 1949
is making all-and-sundry cry for his blood !

But he was a gutsy writer never cowed-down to appease political big wigs, whether Indian
or British, though one could always sense a tilt towards the British.

Depending upon the outcome of a struggle one is classified either as a 'terrorist' / 'freedom fighter'.
Nirad Babu will continue to be that sort of an enigma.

Yes, Kushwant Singh and he were great friends and got a particular thrill at taking pot-shots
at each-other, without being vulgar / insulting / abusive . There was never a rivalry /
one-upmanship / enmity / animosity. It was great fun watching [ reading] two heavy weights
slug it out, that too in the open.

Kushwant Singh too had his brush with the 'system'. His views on Operation Blue Star and the
handling of the Khalistan issue didn't go well with the 'establishment', then.

In reality Prasadji, I am still searching and hope to find some of the 'cuttings' soon - Dubai Ravi too
is doing his bit. My sister Anu was a journalist and working directly under Kushwant Singh then - she is
presently in the US, happily fondling her 2nd G Child. I got her on skype, but she seems as lost as I !

Hope to find something soon and will definitely [with some help] upload.

Guruvethunai
Yay Yem