For   The Tribune | July 18, 1980 The Orient Express was made famous by Agatha Christie. In the days of the raj the most romantic train on the subcontinent was the Frontier Mail which ran from Bombay to Punjab and the Khyber Pass. Men like John Masters have described the fascinating journey by this train, full of bearded Sikh soldiers and hawk nosed Pathans, from the sultry Bombay coast to the dry uplands of Punjab and the Frontier Province. The Punjab Mail was another such t

For The Hindustan Times Magazine | July 13, 1980 The qualities claimed for the former Indian Civil Service – the rule of law, a sense...

For The Sunday Tribune | June 8, 1980 WE were sipping iced nimboo-pani with some friends. The conversation was about life at Chandigarh. “What is there to do in this dull city?" exploded the husband in virile Punjabi, "All you get here are serving or retired bureaucrats, and a duller lot would be hard to find. This city is like Bournemouth, a watering place for the superannuated. There is no cultural life, no political controversy, not even a worthwhile jalsa or riot. All i

For   The Sunday Tribune, Chandigarh | May 25, 1980 l first went to England in 1967.Coming from a soldiering family I was besieged with requests to call on old comrades. Over the years I had heard much from my father and uncles about the Englishmen they served with from the days almost of World War I. There was a Colonel Brownfoot who had recruited one uncle into a cavalry regiment, served in Africa with my grandfather, a ripe cavalry Risaldar in World War I. Brown

For   The Tribune | April 18, 1980 Possibly the most exclusive Indian club is a worldwide group of Punjabis. Since Punjabis are spread over the far corners of the globe, the membership perforce has to be an international one. Of course, it is another matter that when the members, like good Americans, decide to exchange visiting cards, they discover that they all hail from within 20 miles of Nawanshahr Doaba. The membership of this club is hard to come by, but the committee do

For The Tribune | December 28, 1979 I knew Mr Lal Singh Kang many years ago as my Sub Divisional Magistrate in Jullundur. A tall, grave-faced and mild-mannered man, he attended diligently to his duties as a revenue officer. He was always a picture of dignity. I was, therefore, surprised to see in a recent issue of The Tribune a report under the heading ''Muscle massage – a new therapy " with a photograph of my old friend, spreadeagled across a wooden bench. It would have be

For   The Tribune | November 26, 1979 He stands defiantly on the traffic island leading to the Punjab Secretariat. He wears a yellow turban and a military great coat, over which he carries a sword. A steel chakra in his hand, a distant and aloof look in his eyes, he occasionally walks with a proud and measured step along the concrete rim of the traffic island. Sometimes he stops and addresses in lofty tones the 9 o'clock traffic of Ministers and civil servants that swirls pas

For The Tribune | April 26, 1979 In a country obsessed with the activities of politicians, big and small, the death of a bureaucrat in distant Madras should be a matter of no importance to the people of Punjab. Yet Jeet Singh Bhangoo, former Transport Commissioner to the Government of Tamil Nadu, deserves notice, howsoever briefly and fleetingly, by his countrymen. Born of simple peasant stock in the district of Bhatinds, Bhangoo was a self-made man. Selected, for the Ind

For The Tribune | March 29, 1979 I had taken an Air India flight from Heathrow for Delhi. The Jumbo jet was packed with Punjabis looking...

For The Sunday Tribune | November 5, 1978 Why is it that our city fathers (I include in this category both officers and elected public men) are friends of fountains and foes of parks? This may seem a harsh query but seems valid, at least to my knowledge of Punjab. Many, many years ago my first posting was as Sub Divisional Officer, Mahindergarh. This is a desert district lying on the fringe of Rajasthan. Its modest headquarters are at Narnaul, a town of some little glory in

For The Indian Express | October 6, 1978 Chandigarh: Glorious tributes have been paid to Le Corbusier by many great architects of the...

For The Sunday Tribune, Chandigarh | September 3, 1978 SNOWY, KING OF THE ROAD: On his hat cat and mice co-exist peacefully. Cambridge is...

The author recalls his correspondence with the Army authorities in which he had made a plea for a suitable memorial for the unknown...

Such is the chaos that one notices on the Chandigarh Roads For   The Sunday Tribune, Chandigarh | June 11, 1978 Many years ago the road going past Safdarjung airport in New Delhi towards the Kutb Minar was christened "the murder mile" by an enterprising journalist: The reason was simple enough. The road was narrow, the traffic heavy and the mess was compounded by a railway crossing near the airport that remained closed for long periods. Impatient motorists often banged into e

For The Sunday Tribune | March 12, 1978 He sits opposite me with the inherent dignity of those born to the soil. A tall grey-bearded man...

For The Sunday Tribune | September 4, 1977 This is not the only Punjab there is. There is another one – the original one – that lies some thousands of miles away in the Northwest, across a series of mountain ranges. The historian always has known about it. The people of Punjab, a mixture of Aryan, Hun and Sythian, came long long ago from Central Asia, either as refugees or as colonisers. Both roles are familiar to us to this day. Col. Todd, the man who wrote “The Annals of

The Patriot Who Avenged The Jallianwalla Bagh Massacre For The Illustrated Weekly of India | January 30, 1972 The day of reckoning came after 21 years. Sir Michael O'Dwyer left the Punjab as Governor in 1921, censured for having condoned the killing of over 375 innocent men and women by General Dyer. Sir Michael was shot by Udham Singh on March 13, 1940. In search of history – Punjab's, India's – in Birmingham, I ran into a Sikh immigrant from Sangrur. The conversation inev

These days everyone wants to have a good time. They all “want to enjoy”. How does one do that in an overgrown village like Chandigarh?...

For The Sunday Tribune | February 23, 1969 l heard of him as soon as I arrived in Cambridge. The one and only Mr. Singh. We met a few days later. It was not difficult. He stands out even when surrounded by mini skirts and long-haired intellectuals. Introduction was no problem. I just went up to him and greeted him in Punjabi. We met like old friends, with much embracing and back slapping, somewhat to the amazement of his friends. The occasion was obviously a special one. It i

For The Tribune | August 18, 1968 Thirty-five miles north of Cambridge lies Elveden Hall Estate, 20 thousand acres of rich Suffolk...