The tumultuous passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha evoked many emotions in us as my mother and I watched it on TV like millions of others. My 87-year-old mother has seen the world transformed around her.
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On TV about Sikh authors Many days ago, Associated News of India interviewed me about the contribution of Sikh authors to Indian culture. I spoke about Bhai Kahan Singh Nabha, Bhai Vir Singh, Khushwant Singh, Patwant Singh and also a new author, Ravinder Pal Singh. I had no idea about when the interview would be telecast.
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iPad, the arguable most-awaited computing product has been launched, to rave reviews and derision from some quarters. What will iPad mean for the common user, how will it impact our lives? Here is my take.
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Billy Arjan Singh was a legend in his lifetime, and one of the foremost conservationists that India ever had. It was through my friend, Shaminder Boparai, that I re-connected with him, his life and his accomplishments. Shaminder had just finished a coffee table book on him and Billy was immensely pleased to see the way the way it turned out. The book celebrates his success of a person the likes of which we seldom see. His was a life lived to the full.
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Lakhs of Indians loved listening to Worldspace, but that will end with the end of the year. The company has pulled the plug on its service in India, and we feel cheated, since we had subscribed to the service, but instead of music, there will be an eerie silence on the specially manufactured sets that we bought. Anyway, I always focus on more positive things and Worldspace did enrich our lives as we had it, therefore, I chose to remember that in my middle that was published today.
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“Darpan,” an autobiography of the late Risaldar Sunder Singh, which portrayed both the society and history of his times (1895-1990), came alive as my mother spoke at the release of the book in Chandigarh. It is, indeed, an honest account of a person who lived his life by values that were far higher than those we see in our times. He risked a lot for the freedom of the country from the British Raj, lost a lot, and never asked for anything, much like his illustrious uncle, Baba Kharak Singh.
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The Infosys Science Foundation is a not-for-profit trust set up by Infosys Technologies in February 2009 to promote research in sciences in India. Under the aegis of the foundation, Infosys will honour outstanding contributions and achievements by Indians across various sciences. The annual award for each category is Rs. 50 lakh.
A co-winner of the Infosys Prize in Social Sciences: History, this year is the Amritsar-born Upinder Singh, an outstanding historian of ancient and early medieval India. She was selected by a jury headed by the Nobel Laureate Prof. Amartya Sen. Her scholarship and dedication to her students is well know, even then, I was surprised at the work that she has accomplished and the academic recognition that she has got.
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The Aitchisonian Yadavindrian Old Students’ Association (AYOSA), ably led in Chandigarh by Jaspal Sekhon, has been making valiant efforts to get the old boys and girls of the school together. We meet this Saturday, in the evening at North Park. There will be a significant presence from by class—Gurpreet Bhattal, Rajbirinder Chahal, Tina and Sunil Jain, Birinder Gill, we all live in Chandigarh. What were we like in 1970? The old class picture is really interesting…
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A phulkari of colourful memories, shared culture, food and literature tie Pakistanis and Indians. Periodic visits from those across the border invariably trigger nostalgia and bonhomie that underscores the depth of the relations, which transcends the differences that periodically erupt between the two governments more than the people. Yadavindra Public School, Patiala, where I spent most of my schooling years, and where I passed out from, traces its lineage back to Aitcheson College, Lahore. As such, it was with great pleasure that I was a part of a group of Old Boys that received the Aitchisonians in Chandigarh, and their Principal, who I met at two seminars on art years ago.
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Books … we love the content, the feel of the paper they are printed on, what they convey to us and how they enrich us. Yet, books in classical form have limitations imposed by the very factors that make them so alluring – they can get damaged, cost money to print and distribute and have to be physically taken from one person to another, etc. Google has been in news recently because it is engaged in litigation defending its right to digitise books. Let’s take a closer look at e-books, their history, and more importantly, how they figure in our future.
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