The charms of Saigon on January 18, 2018I had first heard of the country through news media accounts, books and films about the Vietnam War. By far the most riveting was Graham Greene’s novel, ‘The Quiet American’. And then there was the gruesome film starring Marlon Brando, ‘Apocalypse Now’(SHOULDER) Bright and early on a lazy October morning, a Cathay Pacific flight from […]
A meditation on Jinnah on January 18, 2018The resolution calling for the creation of Pakistan was passed in 1940. Seven years later, Pakistan came into being. In December 1943, Jinnah talked to British author Beverley Nichols about his ideas. Nichols published the interview next year in his book, Verdict on India. In the book, Nichols calls Jinnah the ‘most important man in […]
Asghar Khan’s legacy on January 11, 2018There are few larger-than-life figures in Pakistani history. Asghar Khan was one of them. He became a legend in his lifetime, a man who had not one but three careers. First, the air force career which conferred on him the lifelong title of air marshal. Second, the political career in which he took on more […]
Nostalgia for the Shah of Iran on January 9, 2018Iran has been wracked by riots for the past few weeks. Some of the rioters seem to be yearning for the reign of the Shah of Iran. These naive protesters are too young to remember what the Shah’s tenure was actually like. There is little doubt that the Islamic Republic has circumscribed personal and civic […]
‘The Sultan and the Saint’ designed to promote message of peace and tranquility on January 8, 2018Relations between the Muslim and non-Muslim worlds are souring with every passing day. This is as true in the West as in the East. In the minds of some, these tensions hearken back to the crusades when the Muslim world was engaged in a protracted combat with the non-Muslim world. Osama bin Laden famously referred […]
Sunrise over the Grand Canyon on January 6, 2018Late one April evening, we found ourselves standing at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. The setting sun had lit up the multi-layered walls of the canyon in gold. It was a dazzling sight. And then the walls gradually faded from view as the earth turned on its axis. The words of John Muir, […]
Stepping into the sands of Maui on January 3, 2018It had been a busy year and we thought we would go to Maui, Hawaii just to hang out by the beach. On our first trip to Maui, we had driven for three hours in the darkness of the early morning hours to the top of Haleakala, an extinct volcano, to witness the magnificent sunrise […]
Von Tunzelman’s analysis of the last days of the British Raj on December 30, 2017Indian Summer by Alex Von Tunzelman is part of the growing literature on the unceremonial end of the British Raj. The scholarly work is also a page turner. The book adds nuance and texture to a well-known story. It does so by revealing the dramatis personae one at a time to the reader. No one […]
‘The battle for the soul of Pakistan does not yet have a clear winner’ on December 27, 2017Ayesha Jalal teaches History at Tufts University in the US and has by far written the most readable account of how Pakistan was created and evolved in the decades that followed. Jalal points out that Pakistan was beset with a confusion of purpose since its inception. Six years before the country was born, M. A. […]
Evaluating the generalship of AAK Niazi on December 19, 2017In his memoirs, “The betrayal of East Pakistan”, published almost 30 years after his surrender in Dhaka on 16 December, 1971, Lt-Gen Niazi sought to respond to critics who had argued that his decision to surrender without a fight for Dhaka was ill advised. He claimed that he “had vast experience of commanding troops. The […]