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 4, 1979 At Cambridge University, achieving high academic results is not the main purpose of life. The students are there to savour the unique intellectual and social atmosphere of the place and to endeavour to develop their talents and faculties to the fullest extent possible. Some want to be artists, others writers and yet others Shakespearian actors. Each one gives to his chosen interest all his energies. If in his three years a man can learn some

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

For The Tribune | October 24, 1977 I grew up in the shadow of Amritsar, or Ambarsar, as we say in that part of Punjab. My village lies...

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

For The Sunday Tribune | March 20, 1977 I first heard of Kalapani as a boy in an Amritsar village. It was a place familiar to every Punjab villager, for that is where you were bound to be sent, if you were unfortunate enough to kill a neighbour, in a sudden fit of anger. When the 'Session' sahib pronounced ‘Umr Qaid’ on a sultry summer afternoon, while the flies droned around your head, you took a last look at your brother Banta Singh, for you were never likely to see him

For The Tribune (Magazine Section) | October 24, 1976 Republished in The Statesman | January 2, 1977 We were standing at the bar sipping pints of bitter. The pub was rather special. Indian owned and Indian patronized, "The Oxford" stood in the seedy harbour front area of Southampton. The area around it was peopled by working class Indian immigrants. We were there because I had persuaded my host, to show me this symbol of the Indian presence. The pub was as run down as t

For The Illustrated Weekly of India | July 11, 1976 The author, visiting Southall after eight years, finds the immigrant community in...

For The Illustrated Weekly of India | July 30, 1972 The Punjabi farmers migrated to Madhya Pradesh in 1947. They cleared forests and...

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

For The Tribune (Magazine Section) | June 13, 1971 “There they sit”! cried my guide excitedly as we spied a group of old men sitting on a park bench in Southall. His voice had the thrill of one who had spotted a covey of partridges in a Punjab field during a winter shoot. “They are here every day without fail at exactly the same time. You could set your watch by their arrival.” We parked the car and walked over towards them in the summer sunshine. On other benches spread in

In Chandigarh you can't avoid the topic. The conversation invariably turns to house building. “In which sector have you built your...

For The Illustrated Weekly of India | April 12, 1970 Easter was the first holiday of 1968. And so the people of this affluent society...

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...