Born in Punjab' s Hadali village (now in Pakistan) in 1915, Khushwant Singh has acquired an iconic stature: he is, arguably, India' s best-known and most widely read author, columnist and journalist. He was founder-editor of Yojana, and editor of The Illustrated Weekly of India, National Herald and the Hindustan Times. His first book, The Mark of Vishnu and Other Stories, was published in 1950. The best known among these are the novels Train to Pakistan, I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale and Delhi; his autobiography, Truth, Love and a Little Malice; and the two-volume A History of the Sikhs.