The Middle

A smooth, shining, spotless coat of whitewash would invariably make people say that it was the dexterous work of Raju. His name had become synonymous with the art of whitewashing. Allah Ditta, popularly known as Raju, was a native of...

THE monsoon season morphed Shoghi into a mystical realm. Hills were shrouded in clouds, their peaks barely visible through the thick, rolling mist. Pine trees glistened with raindrops, and the earthy scent of wet soil filled the air. Streams swelled...

WEEKENDS in the early 1970s were tough in our home. Even at 7 am, six children would be wriggling under blankets, pretending to sleep and dreading the morning routine. We lived in Thoothukudi in the southern part of Tamil Nadu,...

AS we celebrate the 555th Parkash Utsav of Guru Nanak, it’s time to renew our pledge to follow the message of the great Guru in letter and spirit. His teachings remain relevant even today, some five centuries after they were...

IN present-day India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s name evokes a wide spectrum of views — from being the architect of modern India who set our country on the path of progress after the ruinous Partition to the leader who neglected the...

THE other day, I watched a television programme on interiors in which the owner of a palatial house drooled over his expensive Picasso original. As the programme came to an end, it occurred to me that I, too, had a...

AFTER a nearly eight-hour-long flight from Delhi to Zurich, I landed at my uncle’s apartment in a high-rise building near the airport. I witnessed nature at its best through the large windows. Small snaking paths gave me an irresistible invitation....

ON weekdays, my grandmother would stand at the window of our house at 1 pm sharp, keeping her eyes planted on the road unblinkingly. That was the time when famished schoolkids were rushing home. Whether her great-grandchildren — my daughter...

IN October 1962, I was studying in Class III in my village school. My father was in the Army. With the outbreak of tensions at the India-China border, 9 Punjab Regiment was moved from Secunderabad to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh,...

MODERN-DAY texting has played havoc with the English language, but I doubt if it’s anything new. Our daughter was just five when, on a week’s leave from Nagaland, I casually flipped through her English notebook. I noticed a red circle...

DAY in and day out, we keep blaming farmers for burning parali (stubble) and causing air pollution. But it wasn’t so in my childhood; crop residue did not have any stigma attached to it back then. Huge piles of parali...

A month or two before the year ended, somehow a diary made its way home. A diary was irresistible — it compelled you to write. A pleasant smell wafted in the air the moment you picked it up. The pages...

OUR Army camp had a mazaar. One of its two rooms had a grave that was covered by a green cloth. The adjacent room was a prayer chamber with a mimbar (pulpit) in the west-facing wall. We could not go...

MY alma mater is a school founded by Yadavindra Singh, then Maharaja of Patiala, which was the largest princely state in Punjab at the time of Independence. As the chancellor of the Chamber of Princes comprising 565 states, the Maharaja...

WATCHING Hindi films as a youngster, I used to wonder why the police always arrived late at the scene and let go the opportunity to thrash the baddies. Years later, its perverse logic was revealed to me by the stolid...

LEAFING through one of my old diaries, I stopped at a page marked with a red asterisk. It was the last day of October 1984. I was posted at an obscure village, Bhutti, in the interior of Himachal Pradesh. A...

LIFE is stranger than fiction. A few years ago, I was in Kolhapur (Maharashtra), where there was an eatery near Shivaji University. A woman in her early seventies ran that joint. The lineaments of her face suggested that she may...

LAST weekend, I made five calls to India to catch up with family and friends, but no matter who I spoke to — sisters, aunt, sister-in-law or a childhood friend — the response was eerily identical: “Sorry, can’t talk, I’m...

I was commissioned into a battalion comprising Jats and Rajputs in equal proportion. The salutation among the troops and officers is preceded by ‘Ram-Ram’ by Jats and ‘Jai Mata ji ki’ by Rajputs. During Navratri, many soldiers observe a fast....

AS an experienced lawyer, I am often asked by budding lawyers and young students what are the most important skills that one needs in order to succeed in the legal profession. My first instinct is to mention my experience of...

No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear. Yet, over time, fear gives way to something else — something bearable. — CS Lewis WHEN I came across this beautiful quote, the first thing that flashed across my...

IN 1988, while working as a document writer in the district courts, I got an opportunity to appear for a skill test and interview for the post of stenographer (ordinary grade) on an ad hoc basis in a Central Government...

THE way spellings are getting mutilated and phrases are being reduced to acronyms on instant messaging platforms would make Wren and Martin purists agonise over the thousand cuts their beloved English is facing daily. The first wave saw shortening of...

IT was baffling. Every now and then, the doorbell would ring. There would be a delivery boy at the door, either to deliver something or pick up a return. From daily-use items to fancy products, perishables like milk and vegetables...

THE oath-taking ceremony of the new Haryana Chief Minister and his Cabinet, held in Panchkula last week, was lavish despite those in power claiming to be frugal. It saw the masses being subjected to great inconvenience. Roads leading to the...