Manohar Singh Gill: An Officer of the People
Diaries from Home and the World
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At Baba Nanak’s dwar, in Pakistan
Read more here →: At Baba Nanak’s dwar, in PakistanThe Sunday Tribune, Chandigarh | November 10, 2019 I was born in Aldinpur, a kilometer from Tarn Taran, Punjab. The township was founded by Guru Arjan, the fifth Guru, who stayed there for 25 years, till tortured and martyred by Emperor Jahangir in Lahore. I believe Guru Nanak is the daata of everything in Sikhism,…
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Time to invoke the Sufi culture
Read more here →: Time to invoke the Sufi cultureThe Tribune, Chandigarh | June 18, 2016 The conversion of the Lal Khoohi gurdwara, historically recorded as a gurdwara, into a Muslim shrine makes one regret that the pluralistic culture and tradition of the subcontinent is being violated. We must revive universal love preached by Baba Farid. I come from a village, just outside Tarn…
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My Spot Of Green
Read more here →: My Spot Of GreenOutlook | May 16, 2016 I’ll miss the birds in my garden, but will they miss me? In life, there is a time to come, and a time to go. Eight years ago, we came to this Lutyen’s creation, in great excitement. Set in about 3 acres of park, with giant trees, this white elegance…
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A part of Chandigarh in Zurich
Read more here →: A part of Chandigarh in ZurichThe Sunday Tribune, Chandigarh | October 25, 2015 The foundation of the new Punjab capital, Chandigarh, was laid in 1952 by Prime Minister Nehru. I was pursuing my MA from Government College, Ludhiana, and travelled for the first time to Chandigarh in 1956. Panjab University, under Dr Joshi, had moved from Solan to a few administrative…
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DC in thick of war effort in Punjab sector
Read more here →: DC in thick of war effort in Punjab sectorThe Sunday Tribune, Chandigarh | July 26, 2015 I joined the Punjab Cadre of the IAS in 1958. In August, 1965 with seven year service, I was appointed Deputy Commissioner of Ambala, the old British district which stretched, from the Sutlej at Bhakra, to the Yamuna on the border of the U.P. There was no…
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Remembering Ajit
Read more here →: Remembering AjitIn August 1965, newly married and barely 30, I became Deputy Commissioner of the old British District of Ambala, which stretched from Bhakra to the Yamuna, below the hills. There was no Haryana till November, 1966. The Indo-Pak war started on the 6th September. Those were exciting times; we were bombed twice, by Pak Air.…
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A Journey To The Other Punjab
Read more here →: A Journey To The Other PunjabOutlook | April 23, 2015 On 18th August, 2014, the University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan decided to confer on me an Honorary Doctorate for my work in Agriculture and Rural Development, in my Punjab, as Secretary, Agriculture India, as head of a huge programme of agricultural and rural development in Sokoto, Nigeria, and for my…
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The Warmth of Lahore
Read more here →: The Warmth of LahoreHT City, Chandigarh | March 11, 2012 When I was a little boy in Tarn Taran, a doggerel known to every Punjabi was oft quoted: “The man who has not been to Lahore, is not born”. A second lesser known, but often said in verbal jousts ran: The Donkey has been to Lahore, and now puts…
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Changing a Name
Read more here →: Changing a NameThe Tribune | February 17, 2012 Punjab lost Chandigarh in 1966. In 1968 Lachman Singh Gill became Chief Minister for a short while. In those nine months, he forced the PWD to build metal link roads to villages, and made Punjabi the state language. Having lost Chandigarh, he started the Mohali town development project, continuing…
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Delhi Diary
Read more here →: Delhi DiaryOutlook | August 15, 2011 A Murder At The Waterhole The months of April and May bring hot, dust-laden winds from Rajasthan to Delhi. The sky turns brassy, the trees, the birds and even the roving troupes of monkeys from Raisina Hill who regularly traipse through my garden, long for water to moisten their parched…
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Joy, And The River Of Sorrow
Read more here →: Joy, And The River Of SorrowOutlook | June 27, 2011 At the end of May, I undertook a joyride in the districts of Amritsar, Ferozepur, Muktsar, Faridkot and Tarn Taran, on both sides of the Sutlej. It was a chance to see and learn—a rare thing these days. The hot, dry summer had set in; the wheat had been harvested,…
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The Whisky King o’Blighty
Read more here →: The Whisky King o’BlightyOutlook | March 14, 2011 I went to school in St George’s, Mussoorie. Some years back, I was in London and a chap called Narinder Singh Sawhney rang me up. He turned out to be from my school, a product of the ’60s who had migrated to the UK soon after and settled in Hanwell,…
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Kumarajiva’s Passage
Read more here →: Kumarajiva’s PassageOutlook | November 22, 2010 Recently, I spent two days in Shanghai, and felt like doing something different, seeing some unknown part of this vast country. Buddhism was taken long ago to China, by Chinese monks, and it flourished and expanded there, and beyond, with regular sustenance from the monks of Nalanda university and other…
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Chandigarh Diary
Read more here →: Chandigarh DiaryOutlook | October 5, 2009 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 giant of 20th century architecture. The year 1947 was India’s Annus Horribilis. From March that year, murder and mayhem stalked the Punjab. By autumn,…
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Pati, Patni aur Woh
Read more here →: Pati, Patni aur WohMy wife said: We must go to the pictures. Haven’t been there for years”. I demurred, seeing no reason to break a sensible policy. She insisted and said: “Everybody has been to see, ‘Pati, Patni aur Woh’.” I said: “What has that got to do with us?” She argued that her friend Bimla had been…
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Ladakh Notes
Read more here →: Ladakh NotesI like going to the Himalayas. The love affair started in 1961, when I trained at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling, under Tenzing and his nephew, Nawang Gombu. I continued this, with a stint as Deputy Commissioner, Lahaul-Spiti, under the great Punjab Chief Minister, Kairon. A February winter crossing, of the Rohtang Pass, remains a…
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Shimla Diary
Read more here →: Shimla DiaryOutlook | July 12, 2010 Over The Ridge In mid-19th century, Capt Charles Kennedy rode up to the deodar-covered Shimla Ridge from the hot Ambala cantonment, liked what he saw and put down a Scottish loghouse. Others followed. And soon the High Ridge was dotted with houses named Peter Hoff, Ivanhoe, Dane’s Folly, Barnes Court,…
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Corner Shot From Coorg
Read more here →: Corner Shot From CoorgOutlook | May 17, 2010 A people’s initiative for hockey with lessons to learn from This April, I had a chance to visit the Kodagu hills. Fifty minutes by chopper from Bangalore, these forested hills, 2.500- 4.500 feet high and with wide, shallow valleys full of paddy fields, are a southern delight. They are home…
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Our Stars Twinkle in Nigeria
Read more here →: Our Stars Twinkle in NigeriaSokoto is so far from Punjab, and yet it brings back little memories of that land. Like Punjab it is 1,000 miles from the sea. The Niger river swamps and the lush Lagos forests lie far to the south. Here we are, just on the edge of the Sahal, that dry land of stunted bushes…
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Bangladesh Diary
Read more here →: Bangladesh DiaryOutlook | March 1, 2010 Bangladesh’s development story surprised me. The figures given by our embassy were impressive; a growth rate of 6.9 per cent and, what is more, a population replacement of only 1.2… Buzz on the Field After many years, I was in Dhaka again, at the opening ceremony of the South Asian…
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Shivpuri Diary
Read more here →: Shivpuri DiaryOutlook | January 25, 2010 When we went to the Shivpuri jungle in 1950, Daaku Maan Singh was the great Robin Hood of India. He was a romantic figure… Winter Canvas I was in Shivpuri, Madhya Pradesh, for my Christmas break. When I went there last summer, there had been no rain for many months,…
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Shivpuri Diary
Read more here →: Shivpuri DiaryOutlook | September 7, 2009 As the Shatabdi wended its way south, we passed a continuous landscape of dusty fields with dispirited men and cattle, all wandering in search of food and water. I was recently in Gwalior and Shivpuri, Madhya Pradesh. As the Shatabdi wended its way south, we passed a continuous landscape of…
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Floss Silk City
Read more here →: Floss Silk CityOutlook | June 1, 2009 The fleeting Indian spring is gone and summer is upon us. But the trees continue to offer surprises every day. There is a Chorisia Speciosa (floss-silk tree) opposite my porch. I hardly noticed it till I saw it produce green banana-like dangling fruits. I wondered what they were. As the…
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Planted On Earth
Read more here →: Planted On EarthOutlook | December 1, 2008 These days I once again have the temporary use of a Lutyens bungalow. As we did when we lived on Akbar Road, we immediately planted some trees to leave as a memory for later times. In this house, we planted kadam, gulmohar, magnolias, lime trees, jacaranda and ornamental pines. An…
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White Elephant March
Read more here →: White Elephant MarchOutlook | February 16, 2008 Republic Day was always long on ceremony, now it’s short on grace too I saw the Republic Day parade for the first time in 1958 as a young ias trainee on duty. It went on for far too long, with every arm of the army, navy and air force insisting on…