For The Tribune, Chandigarh | March 22, 1980 On a mild September day in 1971 I motored to a small fishing village on the east coast of England. I was in search of Shiv Singh Johal, a friend of Udham Singh, who was said to have in his possession Udham Singh's last letters from jail. I managed to find him ensconced in a neat flat by the sea with his Norwegian wife. They were both old though their memories of Udham Singh were young and fresh. As we talked, Shiv Singh's face glow

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

INDIAN MOUNTAINEER SPRING NUMBER, 1979. Indian Mountaineering Foundation. Pp 135. Rs 6. For The Tribune, Chandigarh | December 8, 1979...

For   The Sunday Tribune, Chandigarh | December 2, 1979 AMRITSAR, Dec 1 – The cancellation of play on the first day was a big disappointment. A huge crowd had gathered and a large number of tickets were sold at the gate even though there was little chance of play. But Amritsar has a long tradition of cricket and the large knowledgeable crowd dispersed peacefully, accepting the decision of the umpires. Yesterday was a delightful day of cricket. The sun shone and the air was cr

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 | November 12, 1979 Mr Parkash Singh Badal will today lay the foundation stone of the Punjab Arts Council building near the Rose Garden in Chandigarh. This will be an important step in the cultural revival of the State. Ever since 1966, when the miracle wheat seeds came to Punjab, we have all been obsessed with the green revolution phenomenon. Economic progress is undoubtedly an important requirement, and it was necessary for our people to devote their ener

For   The Sunday Tribune, Chandigarh | November 4, 1979 Today the Chief Minister of Punjab will unveil in Ludhiana a 10 ft. high bronze statue of Major Bhupinder Singh, M.V.C., of Hodsons Horse, who gave his life for the country in the Sialkot sector in the 1965 war. For me, personally, it is the fulfilment of a long-cherished wish. My memories flow back, over the years, to the time when Bhupinder came to Hodsons Horse as one of the first officers commissioned after Independ

For The Tribune | September 27, 1979 He walked into the plush office of a refrigeration company in New Delhi and asked to see the managing director. His request was simple. Could they please build him a cold store in his native Jullundur? The managing director was surprised. The man who sat opposite him was a small mild-mannered and soft-spoken Sikh. He seemed not the type who could order a cold store just like that. His dress was modest, his speech somewhat diffident. “How

For The Tribune | September 24, 1979 Kee, Tabo, and Dankhar are among the important Buddhist monasteries, locally known as Gompas, which...

PORTRAIT OF A POLITICAL MURDER by H. S. Bhatia. Deep & Deep Publications, New Delhi; Pp 178. Rs 35. For The Tribune, Chandigarh | June 9,...

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

While M. S. Gill writes of the hazards of life in this Himachal area, struck by a disastrous avalanche recently, in the article below Mr...

Published on March 9, 1979 My grandfather loved “datuns”. Along with sugarcane chewing, they were the best recipe for strong sparkling...

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