Chandigarh, November 27, 2017: Khushwant Singh, the biographer of Punjab Chief Minister, Captain Amarinder Singh, observed that writing biographical accounts of the living persons was the most challenging thing.
He was responding to questions from the moderator Neel Kamal Puri and the audience, who wanted to know more about various incidents and challenges that he faced as a biographer, at Chandigarh Literature Festival.
"People were calling me up and commenting on social media to desist from writing biography on Captain Amarinder Singh, who had lost elections in 2012. Yet, I went ahead because my subject never interfered with my research or narrative except for correcting facts or dates, and this became a wonderful experience," he said.
The tipping point in researching him was the journal of governess, a German lady, who had made copious notes about prince's day to day life, which he stumbled upon that made writing about his childhood very gripping and interesting.
There were numerous interviews, and even the letters his Doon School Headmaster wrote to Captain's mother that completed the narrative of his childhood days.
The biography was released just before the results of his elections this year, and would update in the next edition after his current tenure only on which I'm working, he said.
Biographies unveil the most significant part of history and I would definitely like to write about Vijay Mallya or former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal if given an opportunity, he added.