She stood there alone like “Ruth amid the alien corn”. Behind her was the vastness of a tropical forest with trees more than a 150 feet...

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

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