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Leap of faith
It has been a while since I’ve had a chance to post something substantial on my Blog, for the pressures of term-time mean that there are few opportunities to sit down and ponder. However, today was 29th February and I wanted to post something, even if something small. I got my inspiration this morning, when I…
Top Post in 2023
I hope you have been enjoying the photos and blog pieces from 2023. I hope to more productive in 2024 and look forward to sharing more pieces. Please leave any comments/feedback about the Blog below.
On Palestine: Nehru, Jinnah, Gandhi and Iqbal
It was Iqbal’s birth anniversary recently, and Purana Pakistan on Instagram had shared a poem he wrote in 1938; Shaam-o-Falasteen – Syria and Palestine. It prompted me to locate and share the political views of the political leadership at the time in British India. The views of both the Indian National Congress and the All-India…
“From the River to the Sea”
Protest and resistance. Education and knowledge. Ten films to watch about the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict
“My spiritual guru is Nanak Dev and my trade guru is Baba Vishvakarma”
While reading the news from India, the celebrations of Baba Vishwakarma Day caught my imagination. Not least because as I was speaking to my sister earlier on, who had mentioned that the electricity went off due to heavy rains, and the local ‘bijli walla’ won’t come to fix it today. Why I asked? Well because…
“Hope” is the thing with feathers
“Hope” is the thing with feathers By Emily Dickinson “Hope” is the thing with feathers – That perches in the soul – And sings the tune without the words – And never stops – at all – And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard – And sore must be the storm – That…
Remembering Partition in the Punjab – podcast
Earlier in the summer I recorded a podcast with Realms of Memory. There are two episodes for those interested in understanding more about the history of Partition, especially how it impacted the Punjab. The talk was based on my book, ‘From the Ashes of 1947: Reimagining Partition’ published by Cambridge University Press (2018). In the…
The Conquest of the Canary Islands
The other day I was pottering about in the kitchen with the radio on in the background when something caught my ear. The programme “From Our Own Correspondent”, on the BBC World Service, had a piece on the colonisation of the Canary Islands. The islands will be familiar to many Europeans because this is a…
“The image, the imagined, the imaginary”
It is coming to 11 years since my mother died at the age of 83. She had great courage and conviction, illustrated in her decision to come to far-off England – and not go to the familiar India – from Kenya, a few years after my father’s untimely death in 1979. In doing so, with…
Family, gender and patriarchy
Three very different but interesting films have been released recently. All deal with issues of family, marriage, gender and patriarchy. I’m sharing the trailers here and I hope to explore these themes in more detail in another blog. In the meantime enjoy…
Kitabe aur ta.aliim
“Of all the social sciences, it is history which rouses the greatest interest in the minds of the politicians. There are various reasons for this. It has always had an inventive and purposive use. The line between history and mythology is thought to be thin; the past can be used to lend legitimacy to any…
Bahar ayee (It Is Spring Again) by Faiz
bahār aa.ī to jaise yak-bār lauT aa.e haiñ phir adam se vo ḳhvāb saare shabāb saare jo tere hoñToñ pe mar-miTe the jo miT ke har baar phir jiye the nikhar ga.e haiñ gulāb saare jo terī yādoñ se mushkbū haiñ jo tere ushshāq kā lahū haiñ ubal paḌe haiñ azaab saare malāl-e-ahvāl-e-dostāñ bhī ḳhumār-e-āġhosh-e-mah-vashāñ…
Going Digital…South Asian migration to Coventry
As everyone is talking about OpenAI, I decided to experiment and try it out for myself and see what it can generate. The speed with which it generates the material is amazing, and below is the request plus response. Create a blog about South Asian migration to Coventry: Welcome to the South Asian Migration to…
Mein Tenu Phir Milangi – I will meet you yet again by Amrita Pritam
Main Tenu Fir Milaan Gi Kithey? Kis Tarah? Pata Nai Shayad Terey Takhayul Di Chinag Ban Ke Terey Canvas Tey Utraan Gi Ya Khowrey Terey Canvas Dey Utey Ikk Rahasmayi Lakeer Ban Ke Khamosh Tenu Tak Di Rawaan Gi I will meet you yet again How and where? I know not. Perhaps I will become…
The festival of Lohri in Punjab
A few days back I was in Punjab and Delhi, which were clouded and submerged in the winter chill and fog. With every passing comment about the cold, there is another reference, “it will only last until lohri, after that the weather will improve”. This points to the passing of the winter solstice and the…
Top posts in 2022
As I prepare to wind down for this year, here are 10 of the most popular posts of 2022.
Indian Tiffin and Thali
It is the end of November and I find myself at a conference on 75 years of Pakistan Independence at The Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute at Harvard University. On the sidelines of the conference I take a walk and observe the diversity on display around me. In 1990 President George H. W. Bush approved…
Welcome to Nankana Sahib
Nankana Sahib is the Birthplace of Guru Nanak. This town was originally known as Talwandi of Rai (Rai Bhoi di Talwandi) and today it forms the core of the small Sikh community in Pakistan. Every year on Guru Nanak’s birthday (Gurpurab), Sikhs (and others) gather around Nankana Sahib to remember the founder of the Sikh…
New Publication: Partitioning the University of the Panjab, 1947
Read the full article: The Indian Economic and Social History Review, (2022): 1–23
Leicester: a city of diversity
There has been a lot of interest in Leicester over the weekend, following the disturbances around Green Lane Road and Belgrave. I noticed on my Twitter feed that it was picked up by journalists, activists and academic across the globe and especially from those in India. They are of course keenly watching this because of…
Made of Clay
Before the Great Gama, there was Rahim Bakhsh Pehlvan – a forgotten sports superstar! Made of Clay
History, memory and knowledge production
Open The Oral History Review journal and article. August is the time when anyone who has any interest in the history, politics, and society of South Asia will be talking, tweeting, and sharing about the time of Partition/Independence. Here in the UK, I have noticed how much discussion about Partition has entered the public discourse, whether…
Frank Brazil aka Udham Singh (26 December 1899 — 31 July 1940).
Frank Brazil pays tribute to Indian revolutionary Udham Singh who was executed at London’s Pentonville Prison on 31 July 1940. It follows the 21 years of Udham Singh’s life following the Jallianwallah Bagh massacre in 1919, leading up to the assassination of Michael O’Dwyer and his execution in Pentonville Prison shortly after. Music and lyrics…
Mittra da Dhaba at the Wagah-Attari border
In 2001, I crossed the Wagah-Attari border for the first time. Since then, I have used this official land crossing between India and Pakistan numerous times, in the process seeing the border undergo multiple changes. It used to be the Grand Trunk Road split in half, with a few meters of “no man’s land” to…
My Body My Choice/Mera Jism Meri Marzi
The Evolution of “My Body, My Choice” By Lily Patterson, Voicesofgenz, Jul 27, 2020 An iconic tagline for feminists and activists across the globe, “My Body, My Choice” has packed a powerful punch in the fight for equality and, more specifically, womxn’s rights. Starting in the 1970s, the phrase was unofficially coined as a mantra…
BAGICHA 