Book excerpt: If there’s anyone who’s been around, seen it all and lived life to the hilt, it has to be Khushwant Singh. India’s most popular and prolific writer has, over the years, enlightened and outraged in equal measure, and enriched our lives with his humour, his honesty and his sharp insights and observations. In Khushwantnama, the 98-year-old reflects on a life lived fully and the lessons it has taught him. Here is his distilled wisdom on subjects as diverse as old age and the fear of death; on the joy of sex, the pleasures of poetry and the importance of laughter; on how to cope with retirement and live a long, happy and healthy life. Here, too, are his reflections on politics, politicians and the future of India; on what it takes to be a writer; and on what religion means to him.