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An Ol’ Ranger
Read more here: An Ol’ RangerOutlook | September 29, 2008 My love affair with the Himalayas started in 1961 when I trained at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling, under Tenzing Norgay and his nephew, Nawang Gombu. The affair continued during my stint as deputy commissioner, Lahaul-Spiti, under the great Punjab chief minister Pratap Singh Kairon. A winter crossing in February…
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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…
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Concrete Valleys
Read more here: Concrete ValleysOutlook | September 3, 2007 Pre-1966, the Beas-Kangra valley was part of the Punjab. My early service was spent in that beautiful valley. In 1961-62, I was deputy commissioner, Lahaul-Spiti, across the Rohtang Pass. My family and I have continued to visit Lahaul since then. Last week, I went after a decade and a half…
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Peaks Of Power
Read more here: Peaks Of PowerOutlook | April 30, 2007 I first went to Kathmandu when I was CEC many years ago. It was a world congress on mountaineering and tourism, Nepal’s main bread-earner. But I spent most of my time with the political establishment, the Election Commission of Nepal, and the late King Birendra. I can never forget the…
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Remember ’83?
Read more here: Remember ’83?Outlook | March 5, 2007 Meticulously researched and produced, it gives the entire history of India’s one-day matches. This will be manna for all schoolboys. Indians love a tamasha. With so many religions, and gods, 365 days are too few for celebrations. The entry of one-day cricket two decades ago has added to it. In…
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Socratic Egghead’s Gown
Read more here: Socratic Egghead’s GownOutlook | October 23, 2006 Last Wednesday, more than 50 years after he was a graduate student in St Johns’ College, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh walked the Senate House lawns in a ceremonial procession escorted by the chancellor, the Duke of Edinburgh, to receive an honorary degree from this 800-year-old university. I went to Queens’…
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What A Raja Has To Do
Read more here: What A Raja Has To DoOutlook | September 18, 2006 Good for a long train or air journey. The tale is interesting and amusing, and describes a period which, thank God, can never be again. When they took over India, the British strangely allowed 600 oddballs to rule with absolute authority, and total irresponsibility, over principalities from a few villages,…
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Don’t Call The Cavalry
Read more here: Don’t Call The CavalryFor Outlook | July 3, 2006 Lutyens’ Delhi is under siege and no one cares. It’s an unholy coup d’etat. I have lived for many years in Lutyens’ Delhi, and for almost two decades worked within the one square kilometre of the capitol complex. Still, every time I go up Rajpath and see the great presidential palace,…
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Memories of Tarn Taran
Read more here: Memories of Tarn TaranThe Sunday Tribune, Chandigarh | June 4, 2006 June 1, 2006 is a happy day for me and all who have some connection with Tarn Taran. In the last 20 years, six new districts have been created by different governments, almost all south of the Satluj. Tarn Taran, which had the strongest claim, unfortunately was…
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Of Ajit Garh and Tarn Taran
Read more here: Of Ajit Garh and Tarn TaranThe Tribune, Chandigarh | May 4, 2006 When Punjab was again divided in 1966, I was DC, Ambala. I proposed the creation of Ropar district in new Punjab. This was accepted. A decade later, Chief Minister Zail Singh changed the name to Roop Nagar. I could not see the rationale. Mohali township was started by…
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Requiem For Ranthambhor
Read more here: Requiem For RanthambhorFor Outlook | February 27, 2006 Tigers roamed here once. Now, it’s a jungle of caterwauling tourists. Ranthambhor and its tigers were recently in the news. Poaching seems to have all but exterminated the already limited numbers. Horror and anxiety led to immediate, apparently energetic steps: the mantra of a CBI inquiry, the naming of central…
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History, To Wit
Read more here: History, To WitFor Outlook | February 20, 2006 The cartoons are a perceptive history of independent India from earliest times to now such as no one has done before, not even Nehru. Like most harassed Indian citizens, I usually start my day with a smile, thanks to R.K. Laxman. In these times of shrill politics, he is able…
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The Lion in Winter
Read more here: The Lion in WinterOutlook | January 30, 2006 Classic reissue, of import to both those from the Punjab and those whose lives it shaped. For 50 years, Khushwant Singh has towered over Indian writing like a colossus. Novelist, short story writer, historian, editor and journalist, above all an agent provocateur par excellence, he is impossible to ignore. The History…
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Heir and How
Read more here: Heir and HowFor Outlook | March 21, 2005 There are minor errors of dates and facts, which OUP shouldn’t have allowed. But it’s a small blemish on a fine farewell offering. The world has seen many empires, but among them the empire of the Great Mughals stands out like the North Star, ever visible, and the most glorious.…
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Bus to Nankana
Read more here: Bus to NankanaThe Asian Age New Delhi | November 27, 2004 Yesterday was Guru Nanak’s birthday. All over this country, and around the world, people gathered to celebrate this remarkable figure of the Sufi-Bhakti tradition. Guru Nanak strove with all his might to promote the unity of God, the brotherhood of man and the equality of men…
