When Khushwant Singh told me, ‘Go grab your seat you uninvited guest!’

The day and the breakfast with the best-known editor proved very lucky for me, a totally unknown person. Not only did I get my first-ever photo feature published in the most popular magazine of the time, it also proved to be the beginning of a lifelong friendship with a great man whom the world loved and admired

Picture Talk/By NK Sareen

I can’t remember the day, date, or year when an early morning call to Khushwant Singh’s office at the Illustrated Weekly of India got me an invitation to a breakfast of vada-chutni with the most celebrated editor of the time, without his ever knowing me, and without me having any reference from anyone known to him.

The day and the breakfast with the best-known editor proved very lucky for me, a totally unknown person. Not only did I get my first-ever photo feature published in the most popular magazine of the time, it also proved to be the beginning of a lifelong friendship with a great man whom the world loved and admired.

This picture is of the room in his house at Sujan Singh Park where for many years Khushwant Singh sat for hours writing his weekly column on a pad in longhand. It was here that he met and entertained celebrities and commoners alike. I do not remember how many times I went there on my own to meet him, or he called me either to meet him or shoot some celebrity visiting him, or just to have a little chat with me.

Khushwant Singh always respected me for my work, and he was always a father figure for me. After he permanently shifted to Delhi, my visits to his house were so frequent that his wife also started to treat me like a son. I was delighted when, after looking at a bunch of close-up pictures I had taken a few days earlier of KS, she took out one and remarked: “Khushwant, this is the best picture I have ever seen of you.”

There were very many occasions when I received calls from Khushwant Singh asking me to come to his home or to a certain place of activity. Two of them have left a lasting impression in my mind, for entirely different reasons. Once he called me to go to the Taj Palace Hotel, where Amitabh Bachchan was going to present his father Hari Vansh Rai Bachchan’s book in Hindi, after his passing away.

The other incident I can never forget is the day the film Train to Pakistan, based on Khushwant Singh’s novel, was scheduled to be released, and he called me to ask if I was interested in coming to the preview. From his voice I could make out that he was very happy and excited about the film. When I told him that I had not been invited, he retorted, “The film is based on my novel, and I am inviting you to come. What other invitation do you need? Don’t worry, I will be there to receive you.” I immediately realized my foolishness. On reaching the auditorium, I felt embarrassed to face him, but he caught me and said, “Go and grab your seat, uninvited guest.”

[In this column, ‘Picture Talk’, the veteran photo journalist NK Sareen, a former Photo Editor at Expanse International and a writer, shines light on some of the pictures he clicked of personalities he often gets nostalgic about. The views expressed here are the author’s own and The News Porter bears no responsibility.]