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All Writings
An appeal to SGPC for bolstering healthcare
The Sikh community is known today the world over for its spirit of service. Sikh organisations and individuals have been proactive in...
Apr 8, 20204 min read
Chinese Coronavirus Whistleblower: ‘The Dog It Was That Died’
Its lockdown on a cold day in the Shimla hills. There’s not a soul in sight. No construction workers at the house that threatens to take...
Apr 6, 20202 min read
President Trump’s visit had the right optics. Attention must now turn to India-US priority areas
Finally, after the hype of the Trump spectacle, some grunt work will need to be done with the Democrats, and also with the liberal US...
Feb 28, 20204 min read
Will Trump's India visit be high on hype but low on substance?
US President Donald Trump should be in a good mood when he lands in India on February 24. The impeachment drama is behind him; even if...
Feb 22, 20204 min read
As Delhi chokes on its air, the lessons Gabon, a West African country offers
It’s a Friday evening and I am watching captivating television. No, it isn’t Netflix. Not even KBC, but a programme on the successful...
Nov 5, 20193 min read
In the Guru’s footsteps
When Guru Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary is celebrated in countless gatherings this November, the following shabad [hymn] written by...
Nov 2, 20195 min read
Trump finally faces the impeachment challenge, but plans to brazen it out
This one has truly come in from the outfield. While impeachment has been whispered around the corridors of Washington DC since the...
Oct 8, 20193 min read
Howdy Modi: Houston, we don’t have a problem
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second visit to the United States during the Donald Trump administration got off to a dream start in...
Sep 23, 20193 min read
Bibi’s desperate move
Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking an unprecedented fifth term as prime minister of Israel tomorrow, barely five months after the April...
Sep 15, 20193 min read
A letter from Mashobra, where time stands still
It’s a four kilometre walk through a thick Deodhar forest from my cottage to Mashobra, an almost continuous bazaar on a ridge. The slopes...
Aug 25, 20193 min read
Forgetting history and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919
It is still April when I visit Jallianwala Bagh, a full 100 years after the 1919 massacre. The newspapers are full of recollections....
Jun 7, 20194 min read
Jallianwala Bagh at 100: myth versus reality
The narrow entrance to Jallianwala Bagh has little to scare the visitor today. It leads conveniently into an open garden where tourists...
Apr 12, 20195 min read
Jallianwala Bagh massacre: ‘Deep regret’ is simply not good enough
Though no one was holding their breath, there was some expectation of a British apology on the occasion of the centenary of the horrific...
Apr 12, 20194 min read
Punjab’s epochal milestones, key challenges | The Tribune
IT is truly a privilege to be here, on this spring day, in this invigorating intellectual space of Majha House, in the heart of this...
Mar 30, 20195 min read
The making of a maverick martyr
At 9 a.m. sharp, on July 31, 1940, Udham Singh was hanged to death from a 15-foot wooden beam stretched across a room in Pentonville...
Nov 25, 20188 min read
Arundhati Ghose: Plucky, feisty and an unusual diplomat
Arundhati Ghose, who passed away on July 25, was the most unusual of diplomats. Plucky, feisty, forthright and hard-talking one moment,...
Jul 28, 20163 min read
Did He or Didn’t He?
Many of India’s diplomatic missions and residences abroad occupy beautiful and historic buildings: the Ambassador’s residence in Cairo...
Mar 1, 20133 min read
On official duty
Mr Krishnan was a senior officer of the government. Everything about him testified to this fact. He was neat and tidy. He was meticulous...
Sep 1, 201110 min read
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