Manohar Singh Gill: An Officer of the People
Chandigarh
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Men and Memories: A walk down history lane
Read more here →: Men and Memories: A walk down history laneThe Tribune, Chandigarh | November 3, 2016 Partition in 1947 was the greatest subcontinental disaster, leading to migration and misery for the people of Punjab. Governor Glancey wrote to M.A. Jinnah that he was doing everything to clear out the rural Sikhs from the rich canal colonies. Daily violence in Lahore pushed out Hindus and…
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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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Delhi lobby can hit Chandigarh airport takeoff
Read more here →: Delhi lobby can hit Chandigarh airport takeoffThe Tribune, Chandigarh | September 19, 2015 Sitting in Zurich on the 50th Anniversary of Corbusier passing away, I read that the international airport at Chandigarh has, finally, been inaugurated by the Prime Minister. The occasion fortuitously got linked with the memories of Corbusier, who is being celebrated in Chandigarh, as in Europe and particularly…
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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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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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Grey Beards, Green Hedges
Read more here →: Grey Beards, Green HedgesThe 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.…
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Chandigarh’s Hyde Park
Read more here →: Chandigarh’s Hyde ParkThe 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…
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Chandigarh Footlights
Read more here →: Chandigarh FootlightsThe 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…
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First flower of freedom
Read more here →: First flower of freedomThe Indian Express | October 6, 1978 Chandigarh: Glorious tributes have been paid to Le Corbusier by many great architects of the world. The great American Architect, Louis Khan, once said, “I came to live in a beautiful city called Le Corbusier”. On seeing Chandigarh in 1960, Paul Rudolph, a famous architect, remarked: “It is…
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Chandigarh: road sense and nonsense
Read more here →: Chandigarh: road sense and nonsenseThe Sunday Tribune, Chandigarh | June 11, 1978 Such is the chaos that one notices on the Chandigarh Roads 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…
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A House In Chandigarh
Read more here →: A House In ChandigarhPublished on August 9, 1970 In Chandigarh you can’t avoid the topic. The conversation invariably turns to house building. “In which sector have you built your house”? Someone asks. “I haven’t built one”, l answer. “Oh, l suppose, you are still at the planning stage”. He asks looking a little anxious. “I am afraid I…
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Movies – Chandigarh Style
Read more here →: Movies – Chandigarh StylePublished around March 30, 1969 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? There is the club of course. You can sit out on the lawn surrounded by lush green foliage, and drink barley water! Or you can…