Dear friends, Khushwant Singh under his famous column “With Malice Towards One and All” wrote, on 17 July 2011 in Hindustan Times, Lucknow, on the controversy created by Ghulam Nabi Azad on homosexuality. It might be of interest to you all so I am reproducing it below. With best wishes. Yours sincerely Sameer President, Friends India
Khushwant Singh Cabinet Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad need not apologise to anyone for having described homosexuality as unnatural. There are millions of others who share his opinion. The problem is homosexuality is a part of every one’s experience. Most of us get over it. Recall your days in school and college. Boys have crushes on other boys and girls have it for other girls. Then they get married, forget their love for members of their own sex. It is only in the recent past that liberal societies have accepted the truth that homosexuality is not an aberration but a fact of life and allowed gay and lesbian marriages as valid as marriages of men and women. The incidence of homosexuality among creative people is significantly higher than others. (Bold is mine). Two Indian writers never bothered to conceal their being homosexuals. One was Aubrey Menon, author of Rama Retold in which he had created his own version of Ramayana which many Hindus found offensive. It was promptly banned by the Indian government. He was also indiscriminate in his choice of partners. In Bombay he was staying in the Oberoi Grand. The management wanted to throw him out as he was making passes at waiters and room boys. I pleaded on his behalf and told the manager how eminent a writer he was and they should be more understanding of his eccentricities. The other is Vikram Seth author of The Golden Gate, A Suitable Boy and many other books. He is as close to being a genius as anyone I have ever known. It doesn’t take him more than a couple of days to pick up a new language. When last time he came to have a drink with me, he gave me a calligraphic piece in Arabic script drawn like diamond. He wrote my name in Urdu. I have it framed and display it on my name plate.
