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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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In Defence Of Swami Agnivesh
Read more here: In Defence Of Swami AgniveshCricket is my favourite game. In school at St. George’s College, Mussoorie, I was as feared a left-arm demon bowler as Bedi has been on the international scene. I followed the doings of the great Bradman, Hutton, and Denis Compton with a diligence that few could match. We kept scrapbooks of the pictures of all…
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A Telephone for You
Read more here: A Telephone for YouYesterday the General Manager of the Delhi Telephones, Mr. P.C. Jauhri, offered a gift to the citizens of the capital (Statesman, 20th May). “A telephone for the asking”, he announced grandly to the wonder and amazement of the long suffering Delhiwallas, many of whom have gone gray waiting for his gift from the Gods in…
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Where serfs are taking on sahibs
Read more here: Where serfs are taking on sahibsCan the Hindu caste system, which has always held India’s 576,000 villages together, survive the coming of modern farming? Evidently not, if one looks to the prospering Punjab, where the familiar trinity of tractors, combines and electric power is rapidly displacing human labour. Strip away the age-old economic basis for caste – the exchange of…
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The Meadows of Sanasar
Read more here: The Meadows of SanasarWhenever and wherever we discussed the charms of the valley during our recent visit to Kashmir a new name kept cropping up. Everyone agreed about the marvellous golf at Gulmarg, the trout fishing and riding at Pahalgam, the hilting and climbing at Sonamarg, and the quiet romantic shikara rides on the Dal Lake of an…
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She Could Only Be A Punjabi
Read more here: She Could Only Be A PunjabiShe 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 high, enmeshed with myriads of creepers that kept out the sunlight and gave the forest a dark and forbidding look. Around her was a small patch of land, still half-reclaimed. Stumps…
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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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Land of Perpetual Sunshine
Read more here: Land of Perpetual SunshineIn September 1962, Spiti burst upon the national scene with a tragic drama, involving over 2,000 people – men and women engaged in the vital task of connecting this remote area with the rest of the country, and now trapped by the fickle gods of rain and snow. Day by day, hour by hour, the…
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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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Give them hockey sticks
Read more here: Give them hockey sticksAfter a long time I had occasion on Monday to see women at play. The occasion was the final of the Women’s Hockey Championship at Chandigarh. The spectacle was something of a revelation for me. Many years ago we used to enjoy watching the women students of Government College, Ludhiana, participate in the annual college…
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The bitter waters of the Punjab Rivers
Read more here: The bitter waters of the Punjab RiversI joined the Punjab IAS in 1958. In 1960, Prime Minister Nehru signed the World Bank Sponsored Agreement with Prime Minister Liaqat Ali Khan, to divide the river waters of the old Punjab. The East Punjab was allotted 15.2 MAF and the Ravi, Beas and Sutlej rivers, while the West Punjab got Chenab, Jhelum and…
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Manohar Singh Gill remembers Tshering Dorje, his Lahaul-Spiti brother
Read more here: Manohar Singh Gill remembers Tshering Dorje, his Lahaul-Spiti brotherThe Tribune, Tribute | November 22, 2020 In 1959, the Chinese suddenly attacked an Indian police patrol in Ladakh. Chief Minister Partap Singh Kairon immediately created a border district beyond Manali, across the Rohtang Pass (13,050 feet). We had to walk over the Pass and all over this mountain district of two valleys, Lahaul and…
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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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‘Even after 33 years, the idea of Apni Mandi has survived’
Read more here: ‘Even after 33 years, the idea of Apni Mandi has survived’The Tribune, Ludhiana | June 11, 2019 In 1985, on return from the World Bank, I became Development Commissioner, Punjab, responsible for the agriculture and rural sector. This unified authority, now split, was created by Kairon. I had spent the year 1967 in Cambridge and gone again on invitation in 1974-75 to write my book…
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Punjab’s never-ending woes
Read more here: Punjab’s never-ending woesThe Tribune, Chandigarh | April 7, 2019 Partition was a great disaster – lost lives, migration, and other horrors. We left the west canal colonies created by the Sikhs, and got one-third sandy land in return. Laudhiana was all tibbas, growing groundnut. The rivers were divided and Punjab got 15 million acre-foot (MAF). Against the Constitution…
