The Sunset Club is a novel written by Sardar Khushwant Singh and it was his last novel till his death. After this novel he only wrote his daily column in The Hindustan Times, and retired from literary writing. When this novel touched the bookshelves, the age of Khushwant Singh was 96. At this age one is addled and neighbored with many diseases, focus is lacking and a considerable chance arises for dementia, but Khushwant Singh defied everything.
When The Sunset Club touched the shelves of bookstores it sell like hot cakes and unlike any other book of Khushwant Singh the preorder was in thousands. As soon as the general readers and critics sifted through the pages to the end, reviews started pouring in. Mostly they were in the praise of the storyline and simplicity of this novel.
The novel is set in famous Lodhi Gardens of Dehli, where three octogenarian men use to take their evening stroll. They are friends for more than forty years and have known each other since then. These three friends are Pandit Preetam Sharma a moderate Hindu, Nawab Barkatullah Baig a poetry loving Muslim and Sardar Boota Singh a lecherous Sikh.
These old men are friends for the last forty years and now they are retired from their jobs. Every evening they take a stroll in the garden and when they are tired they make themselves comfortable on a bench facing Jami Masjid. This spot shows a perfect glimpse of sunset. A perfect time for a colloquy, when birds are returning to their nests and a shroud of silence is covering everything, sound of chirping crickets and occasional howl of an old owl touches the ear.
They have lived a purposeful life and have a lot to tell and talk about. Every evening the course of discussion runs from politics to history and from poetry to sex. They after inquiring about each others’ health start conversing on different topics, such as daily news, religion, scandals and general gossips. These talks normally can be very boring but not in this club, their bold language and views full of lifelong experiences light up the conversations. Nawab Barkatullah is fond of classic Urdu poetry and keeps quoting it as it may suits the conversation, on the other hand Sardar Boota Singh is a loud fellow who doesn’t hesitate to talk on taboos and occasionally to assert his point takes help from his repertoire of abuses.
Story advances and we come to know a lot more about the three characters, their habits, likes and dislikes. Change of seasons in the novel is also very amusing and realistic, it changes certain part of the lifestyles of characters and which eventually turns the daily regular conversations to the old age ailments associated with different weathers. In the depth of this novel one finds the underlying message and concept which Sardar Khushwant Singh tried to give. Certain things can be very exciting and amusing when someone is in adolescence or in his youthful years but this thing gradually declines as the years soar to make him old and grumpy. Chilly mornings, fog, rain and new unfolding news and discoveries can be very exciting for a young heart but to an old man, these things have very little or no importance at all. Although the conversation of The Sunset Club is very interesting and provocative, but at times it can be a little bit monotonous. Even so, the reader will enjoy the whole concept and the reality like structure of this novel.
As the story travels towards the end, a member of The Sunset Club dies and creates a void for the remaining two. It leaves a heartfelt impact on their daily routine of walk and conversation. At this point a very influencing sense of loss and change overtakes the plot and reader’s mind.
Overall the novel is very touching and funny at the same time; it puts reality and illusion on the stage together. The perfect pace with which time passes, one season leaves and another takes its place make it an unforgettable book.
Writing such a masterpiece at this age indeed increases the reverence for the dirty old man of India and defines him as the finest contemporary literary giant of India.
