I was 6 or 7 years old in 1946-47 and was vaguely aware of a certain agitation around my surroundings near the Golden Temple in Amritsar, my birthplace and home.

In retrospect I came to realize how lucky my family and I were at the time of India’s Partition that our local community had constructed a shard topped high wall, and “gated” the area with large steel doors to protect us against possible riots going on in India at the time.

During the daytime I saw armed soldiers on patrol and at night I was aware of the regular shouts of the watchmen who called out to each other to be vigilant.

Early on, before the curfew was imposed, I was sometimes able to stand at the side of the GT Road and watch the convoy of military vehicles heavily laden with people making their way through what I later realized was the border between India and Pakistan.

In particular, I remember the propaganda leaflets often raining from the sky that always left me wondering about the strange flying machine that was dropping them. It evoked a strong desire in me to one day find out what this noisy object was really all about.

At the time my father was in UK and in order to keep us protected from the turmoil in India, he made arrangements for us to join him. So we traveled to London via ship. Our presence in Britain was meant to be temporary but as the family grew, roots were put down and that foreign land was to become our permanent home.

However, I continued to remember with great affection my childhood life in India, despite the political upheaval that the country was going through.  In particular I never forgot those leaflets and the airplane that dropped them. Yes, the airplane had caught my imagination.  And in time, I was able to satisfy my ultimate dream of gaining a private pilot’s license and eventually owning a light aircraft of my own.

Knowing my passion for aviation, a family member recently presented me with the autobiography of H.S. Malik titled ‘A little Work, A Little Play’.  I found the book extremely engaging and was not able to put it down until I had read it from cover to cover.

I learnt that Malik had never considered writing his autobiography but constant persuasions from his wife and children made him jot these pages down. Even then it remained untouched for many years till his daughter Harji Malik ultimately took a strong initiative of editing and publishing the book.

The introduction to ‘A little Work, A Little Play’ has been written by Hardit Singh Malik’s good friend Lester Pearson who later became the Prime Minister of Canada.

It saddened me to realize that I had never heard of Hardit Singh Malik who was a man of extreme courage and had a remarkable career as a sportsman, civil servant and diplomat. I am glad the book has brought him out of oblivion for me and giving me an insight of Malik’s personal life too.

Born into an affluent Sikh family of Rawalpindi in 1894, after finishing his schooling in Pindi for a few years, Malik moved to England for further studies.

H.S. Malik,  joined the Royal Air Force of Great Britain and tbecame the first ever non-Brit fighter-pilot with a turban and beard. He participated in several dog-fights with German war planes over Germany and France.

I was in awe of him as a pilot knowing how primitive, fragile and unreliable his flying machine must have been in those early days of aviation. I could not imagine how he must have faced hostile gunfire from the ground and air! And indeed there came a time when Malik’s plane was riddled with hundreds of bullets- as many as 400, two of which even penetrated his legs forcing him to crash-land.

After recuperating for a few months in hospitals in England, he found himself back in the battlefield. After the war was over, Malik joined Balliol College, Oxford where he actively participated in cricket and golf for the university.

It is highly admirable that he was a high-achiever in a foreign country with his beard and turban intact when very little was known about Sikhs and the world was less liberal and tolerant of differences.

Soon after finishing his college, Malik was selected for the Indian Civil Service and posted to his home state. In the year 1919, he married the younger sister of his elder brother’s wife. She hailed from a Hindu Arya Samaj family but eventually turned a devout Sikh and assumed Prakash Kaur as her name. The family’s days started and ended with recitations from Sri Guru Granth Sahib.

After having served in many districts of Punjab, Malik was appointed as Prime Minister of Patiala. He occupied the position for three years till the state got merged in Punjab in 1947. But while he was still the Prime Minister of the princely State, he and a few well-known Sikhs met Jinnah, who offered the Sikhs some special rights and powers if they would join Pakistan. But being farsighted as he was, Malik rejected Jinnah’s offer.

The then Prime Minister of India, Pandit Nehru appointed Malik as India’s first High Commissioner to Canada. In this capacity Malik is credited with negotiating with Canadian Government to accord full citizenship rights for Sikhs and other Indians in Canada.

Malik lived in Ottawa for three years before taking over as Ambassador of India to France. During his short tenure there, he succeeded in negotiating the release of French colonies in India (Pondicherry etc). This was notably the solo case where no military force had to be used to regain territory in India.

After a lifetime of service in India and abroad, he retired to his newly built home in New Delhi.

Malik had a great passion for golf. He would go to the Delhi Golf Club every afternoon till almost the end of his life. He expressed a desire to die on the golf course. That wish was not fulfilled.  He suffered a massive heart attack in October, 1985 that proved fatal.

Malik overcame huge obstacles (not the least of which was institutionalized racial prejudice of the British Air Force) to become a pioneering WWI Ace fighter pilot, who served with outstanding distinction.

Although I was riveted to the story of his wartime involvement, I was even more impressed with his political and social contributions to the welfare of ‘Mother India‘ during her struggle for freedom from the British Rule. One of the photographs in the book struck a very personal chord as it showed Malik receiving the fighter plane presented to India in 1917 by the Chamber of Commerce in Manchester – the city I grew up in and whose flying field I know too well.

I cannot find the words to express how important it is for our future generations to read and learn from Hardit Singh Malik’s autobiography and to appreciate how much our forefathers have done for us.

Malik truly was a hero and a role model whose life story is inspirational. His bravery, determination and personal commitment shines a positive light on all Sikhs.

H.S Malik did not merely reach glory in his personal life and career, but he sought to make the world a better place.

I strongly recommend reading and sharing ‘A little Work, A Little Play’. It epitomizes Sikh values – passion, fortitude, and a strong belief in Sikhi.

H.S Malik was a statesman, a sportsman, a pioneer, a war-hero and a patriot.

This book will be showcased at the Sikhlens Film Festival (Nov 22, 2013 – Nov 24, 2013).