Rahul Singh’s own answer is that it has been “quite a mixed fare.” He is proud of his father and does not mind being known as Khushwant Singh’s son, but he winces when an introduction leads with that relationship before anything else. He has also described practical benefits of the name, the pull of a demanding household, and the weight of being measured against an iconic writer. His accounts, published between 2014 and 2019, are his recollections, not a verdict on every encounter he has had.
The short answer in his words
In a first-person excerpt published by Scroll on March 21, 2014, Rahul Singh wrote: “I am often asked, ‘What is it like being the son of Khushwant Singh?’ Quite a mixed fare, I should say.” The same excerpt adds: “Though I might not show it, I am proud of my father.” The mixture he describes is the core of his account: pride and some practical advantage sit alongside discomfort at being defined by one relationship.
The introduction he cringes at
Rahul’s main complaint is not the name itself but the order in which people tend to use it. In the 2014 Scroll excerpt he says he cringes when an introduction first stresses that he is Khushwant Singh’s son and only then insists that he is known in his own right. He does not present this as resentment of his father. It is a question of sequence: he would rather his work or his person come first, with the parentage following as a fact rather than a credential.
Where the name opened doors
The same excerpt records one concrete advantage. When Rahul met militants in Kashmir, they were initially wary of him. His father’s name eased that suspicion and made the encounter warmer. Rahul presents this as his own experience in one particular setting, not as a general rule that the name worked everywhere or with everyone.
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A father who expected independence
In a 2014 interview, Rahul recalled that his father believed children should be independent. As a young child in London, he travelled to school alone on the Tube and delivered newspapers to earn pocket money. He describes moving between several countries during childhood as disruptive but fulfilling, because it exposed him to children from many backgrounds and cultures.
A father who also set limits
The same interview describes a stricter side of Khushwant Singh. He was conservative and a firm disciplinarian at home. Rahul recalls being reprimanded by his father after returning late from a party. Read together with the independence he was given, the picture is of a household that combined freedom to act with clear expectations about conduct.
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Walks, birds and travel
Rahul’s most warmly described shared ground with his father was nature. He recalls nature outings, bird watching and long walks together. In a report published by The Times of India on January 14, 2019, he summed up the parenting this way: “He was a conservative father but not necessarily an indulgent one. We used to travel a lot since he loved nature and cherished long walks.” That sentence holds both threads of his account: the discipline and the shared outdoors.
Living with comparison, and a career of his own
A 2015 Dawn profile frames the situation as having both an “unfair advantage” and an “unfair disadvantage.” The advantage is access to his father’s experience. The disadvantage is being consistently compared with an iconic writer. Dawn’s wording is the profile’s own framing; Rahul’s direct account is more nuanced and does not treat the comparison as the defining fact of his life.
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His career is the clearest evidence he offers that he was not only his father’s son. According to the same Dawn profile, he worked as an assistant editor at The Times of India and was the founding editor of the Indian edition of Reader’s Digest. He later edited other newspapers. In the 2014 interview he said his father’s fame did not cast a long shadow over his work. He had already spent five years as an assistant editor at The Times of India before Khushwant joined the Illustrated Weekly of India.
Closeness in the final period
In a March 21, 2014 account, Rahul described a small family routine of conversations with his father and sister after dinner. He called Khushwant a gentle father who believed in good thought and good deed, and he said: “He was a great father and a fantastic human being.” The same account recounts the events of his father’s final day. Those details are Rahul’s own testimony and should be read as his personal memory, not as a general picture of the family’s inner life.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Where these accounts come from
- Scroll, March 21, 2014: a first-person excerpt from Rahul’s book In the Name of the Father, published by Roli Books. It is the source of the “mixed fare” passage, the introduction complaint, the Kashmir episode and the closing family memories.
- 2014 interview: the account of independence, the London Tube journeys, the newspaper round and the strict discipline at home.
- The Times of India, January 14, 2019: the “conservative father but not necessarily an indulgent one” remark about travel and walks.
- Dawn, 2015: a profile covering Rahul’s career and the “unfair advantage” and “unfair disadvantage” framing.
The book is the fullest version of Rahul’s account, and Scroll identifies its excerpt as coming from it. The edition and current availability should be checked with the publisher, Roli Books, before buying.
The accounts do not add up to a claim that the relationship was uniformly close or distant, or that other children of famous parents share Rahul’s experience. They are one man’s retrospective reflections on a father who was both affectionate and exacting, and on a name that helped and sometimes weighed on him.
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