Khushwant Singh on his last day at the Weekly

The dirty old man of Indian journalism, Khushwant Singh, has used the occasion provided by M.J. Akbar‘s unceremonious exit from The Asian Age to describe his own departure from The Illustrated Weekly of India in the latest issue of Outlook:

“The journal, like all others published by Bennett Coleman, including The Times of India, had been restored by the government to the Jain family. As soon as they took over, they started meddling in my business. My contract was terminated and my successor appointed. I had one week to go. I wrote a tearful piece of farewell, wishing the Illustrated Weekly future prosperity. It was never published. When I arrived at the office in the morning to tidy up my desk, I was handed a letter asking me to quit immediately. I picked up my umbrella and walked back home.

“It was an undeserved, deliberate insult. It still rankles in my mind. The Jain vendetta continues to this day. Even functions held in my honour presided over by people like Amitabh Bachchan, Maharani Gayatri Devi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, while reported in the Times of India, never carry my name or photograph. That is how small-minded people with pots of money and power can be.”

Read the full article: F*** all editors

4 Comments

  1. Jayashree Kapahi

    Very true,alas!The media has been dumbed down to the extent that reading newspapers[!!] or watching the news is a waste of time.

  2. sumant

    so true. independence se pehle ke chor ab raja ho gaye .
    AB MODI JI HEE BACHAYENGE IS DESH KO. KYA ,KYA

  3. Too bad, we could not have Khuswant on Twitter. I wonder what he would have tweeted after a few glasses of fine scotch. Lot of sense, I guess.

  4. I would say the same what Voltaire would have said after few glasses of wine …..they both had the same kind of sense of humor and intellectual snobbery !

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