A royal encounter

As a 19-year-old, Bobby Singh Bansal visited Pakistan for the first time, and his interest in its glorious past put him on the path of research and documentation of the rich Sikh heritage. About 30 years on, at the Chandigarh launch of his fourth book—The Punjab Chiefs: The Lost Glory of The Punjab Aristocracy in India and Pakistan – he managed to bring together erstwhile royal families. Talking about the book, he says “It was a daunting task but when I explained that I was only documenting their past, they shared their heritage – unseen portraits and artefacts that have been a part of the book.” Bansal is working on this book’s second volume. The Punjab Chiefs traces history of some 65 families, and is priced at Rs 6,000.

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