A pretty young woman looked at me meaningfully, realised that I was unable to recognise her, and came up to my wife and me to introduce herself as the granddaughter of Bhai Kahn Singh of Nabha. We were at a gathering at Whispering Willows, an upmarket commercial farm on Chandigarh’s outskirts on Sunday. “What do you do now,” I asked her. I had not seen anything written by her since she got married a few years ago. “I work as a volunteer in Sikhyaa and another school for slum children,” she said. 

Major A P Singh, her father, continues to dedicate himself to perpetuating the legacy of Bhai Kahn Singh, and among his achievements is a statue in the honour of Punjab’s pioneering encyclopaedist at Nabha who I have long been an admirer of.  Please click here to read my article on Bhai Kahn Singh.

Salman Rushdie is always in the news and it took Midnight’s Children to propel him into the dizzying heights of literary stardom, and to earn him Booker immortality . There is no doubt that Rushdie is a difficult author to read, for the persistent, the rewards are great. Every reader has his or her favourites, and mine include Midnights Children and Shalimar the Clown.

Rushdie courts controversy, and keeps on churning not only bestsellers, but also works acclaimed by literary critics. The fact that he was named Best of the Booker on the 40^th anniversary of the prestigious literary prize, is again an occasion to look at the man and his work. Please click here to read my recent article on Salman Rushdie.

In the wake of the now waning interest in Princess Diana, some of my friends reminded me of the middle that I had written when she died on August 31, 1997, in the tragic car accident in Paris. Please follow the link given below to read the middle.

The New Year has started well and I have had a chance to write on two achievers, both of whom I am rather proud to know:

Today, it was announced that the winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award for English is Rupa Bajwa. The girl from Amritsar has a disarming smile, and a very sharp mind that has produced her internationally acclaimed bestseller, The Sari Shop. Set in Amritsar, the book explores the live of Ramchand who works in the sari shop but dares to dream. What happens next should best come to you from the pages of the book.

Rupa Bajwa is busy working on her next book. She graciously agreed to answer some questions from me. Please click here to read more about this young and gifted author.

Earlier, in a surprise visit, Prof Gurinder Singh Mann came all the way from Santa Barbara to attend the inauguration of the World Punjabi Centre, Punjabi University, Patiala.

Prof Mann is Founder-Director of the Center for Sikh and Punjab Studies at the UCSB, which has done commendable work in popularising Punjab and Punjabi in Western academia. I have known Prof Mann since the time we both were in New York in the late 1980s. He is a man with a clear vision of what he wants to leave as his legacy, and he has untiringly worked towards it. Though he keeps a schedule that is hectic to say the least, he was kind enough to spare some time for me. You can read what I wrote about him by clicking here.