The Chandigarh of Nehru and Corbusier has almost become a curiosity for a stream of visitors from the West who continue to see him as a...

As the Shatabdi wended its way south, we passed a continuous landscape of dusty fields with dispirited men and cattle, all wandering in...

For Outlook | June 1, 2009 The fleeting Indian spring is gone and summer is upon us. But the trees continue to offer surprises every day....

For Outlook | December 1, 2008 These days I once again have the temporary use of a Lutyens bungalow. As we did when we lived on Akbar...

Republic Day was always long on ceremony, now it's short on grace too For Outlook | February 16, 2008 I saw the Republic Day parade for...

For Outlook | September 3, 2007 Pre-1966, the Beas-Kangra valley was part of the Punjab. My early service was spent in that beautiful...

For Outlook | April 30, 2007 I first went to Kathmandu when I was CEC many years ago. It was a world congress on mountaineering and...

Lutyens' Delhi is under siege and no one cares. It's an unholy coup d'etat. For Outlook | July 3, 2006 I have lived for many years in...

Tigers roamed here once. Now, it's a jungle of caterwauling tourists. For Outlook | February 27, 2006 Ranthambhor and its tigers were...

For Outlook | May 12, 2003 Recently, I had the chance of an extensive tour of Saurashtra. Raj Kumar College in Rajkot, set up in 1870 as...

Free India's mantris and santris have lived amid abundant greenery. But they haven't ever planted a single tree. For Outlook | February...

Former CEC M.S. Gill on an English summer, lazy flashbacks ... and lots of cricket For Outlook | September 3, 2001 Sitting in the garden...

IN LIGHTER VEIN BY M.S. GILL For The Tribune | February 25, 1986 If you are up at Cambridge you want to go somewhere for the vacation. The place is closed for six months in the year to allow people to study. Terms are meant for more serious pastimes! A friend says we have holidays between holidays but I think it is not true. Another possible reason for the vacation is the avarice of the college bursars. They want to make more money. And so the students are cleared at the end

For The Tribune | March 21, 1981 In the summer of 1967, my wife and I went for a visit to Lahaul. We thought those high remote valleys,...

For The Tribune | March 6, 1981 It was a wet winter evening in Cambridge. The rain dripped gently on the college lawns. The fog, as T.S. Eliot might say, curled about the ancient buildings. The yellow street lights gave everything an eerie appearance. My wife and I had gone to Wolfson College to dine with some Pakistani friends. At about 11 p.m. we walked down from the college to the main road to catch the last bus to our flat. Only an old lady was standing under the cold bu

For   The Sunday Tribune, Chandigarh | November 23, 1980 Falling administrative standards continue to cause concern among the public. Efforts have been made from time to time, particularly with the help of foreign experts, to improve matters. An American, Paul Appleby, came to India in the fifties, and submitted a report. Sir Malcolm Darling, a famous retired I.C.S. man, came in the sixties. Many others from the Ford Foundation, the United Nations and other world agencies ha

For   The Sunday Tribune, Chandigarh | November 9, 1980 In the course of my official duties I once had occasion to meet a deputation of unregistered medical practitioners of Punjab. These are men who carry on the trade in the countryside. They argued for the honour of being declared “Registered Medical Practitioners.” The medical men present gave them dark looks and whispered in my ear: “Quacks”. Some certainly looked to me more like butchers than men on a mission of mercy.

For The Tribune | November 7, 1980 QUEEN VICTORIA'S MAHARAJA – DULEEP SINGH, 1838-93, by Michael Alexander and Sushila Anand. Vikas, New...

For The Tribune | September 9, 1980 The Edinburgh Festival held in September every year is famous the world over. Tourists come from all...

For The Tribune, Chandigarh | September 1, 1980 With my morning newspaper these days full of gory details of murder, stabbing and arson, I find some cheer in the remembrance of an incident long past. Some years back I went on a tour from Delhi to the Andamans. I had heard much of their green forests, snow white beaches and clear emerald green waters. I was keen to see this paradise in the ocean. There are more than 300 Islands, big and small, inhabited and empty, lush green a