The Edinburgh Festival held in September every year is famous the world over. Tourists come from all over Europe, and the town is given...

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...

Sokoto 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...

My 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...

I like going to the Himalayas. The love affair started in 1961, when I trained at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling,...

He stands defiantly on the traffic island leading to the Punjab Secretariat. He wears a yellow turban and a military great coat, over...

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...

I’ll miss the birds in my garden, but will they miss me? For Outlook | May 16, 2016 In life, there is a time to come, and a time to go. ...

In August 1965, newly married and barely 30, I became Deputy Commissioner of the old British District of Ambala, which stretched from...

If only the Kashmir imbroglio would end, India, Pakistan, as well as the two Punjabs would see tremendous growth benefiting everyone. For...

For HT City Chandigarh | March 11, 2012 When I was a little boy in Tarn Taran, a doggerel known to every Punjabi was oft quoted: “The...

For The Tribune | February 17, 2012 Punjab lost Chandigarh in 1966. In 1968 Lachman Singh Gill became Chief Minister for a short while....

The sky is brassy, the trees, the birds and even the monkeys from Raisina Hill who regularly traipse through my garden, long for water to...

Rural Punjab retains its spirit and inventiveness; the Sutlej is another story For Outlook | June 27, 2011 At the end of May, I undertook...

On how the Sawhneys became big purveyors of fine spirits For Outlook | March 14, 2011 I went to school in St George's, Mussoorie. Some...

Dunhuang’s majestic Buddhist murals ought to be known better here For Outlook | November 22, 2010 Recently, I spent two days in Shanghai,...

For Outlook | July 12, 2010 Over The Ridge In mid-19th century, Capt Charles Kennedy rode up to the deodar-covered Shimla Ridge from the...

A people’s initiative for hockey with lessons to learn from For Outlook | May 17, 2010 This April, I had a chance to visit the Kodagu...

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...

When we went to the Shivpuri jungle in 1950, daaku Maan Singh was the great Robin Hood of India. He was a romantic figure... For Outlook...