Pash, my father: Winkle Sandhu remembers the revolutionary Punjabi poet / Sonia Mann’s emotional letter to her father Baldev Singh Mann

First posted September 06, 2020 Born on September 9, 1950 at village Talwandi Salem in Jalandhar, Avtar Singh Sandhu wrote under the pen name of Pash. Inspired by the Naxalite movement, he was known for his poetry of resistance. The four volumes of his poetry – ‘Loh Katha’, ‘Udadiyan Bazan Magar’, ‘Saddey Sameyaan Vich’ and… Read More Pash, my father: Winkle Sandhu remembers the revolutionary Punjabi poet / Sonia Mann’s emotional letter to her father Baldev Singh Mann

Apollinariya Yakubova: The face of the woman Vladimir Lenin loved most is revealed

First posted May 02, 2015 She was described admiringly by Vladimir Lenin’s wife as the “primeval force of the Black Earth”, a revolutionary firebrand with sparkling brown eyes whose natural aroma was of “fresh meadow grasses”. It is no wonder then that the search for an image of Apollinariya Yakubova, considered by some to be… Read More Apollinariya Yakubova: The face of the woman Vladimir Lenin loved most is revealed

Sarbpreet Singh: The Curious Connection Between Sikkim’s Lake Guru Dongmar & Guru Nanak

First posted on November 12, 2019 I am back in Gangtok after many years. As I grew up here, I call it home. During a whirlwind book tour in India to talk about my new book, The Camel Merchant of Philadelphia, I decided to take a few days off to go home. It is raining… Read More Sarbpreet Singh: The Curious Connection Between Sikkim’s Lake Guru Dongmar & Guru Nanak

Heda Margolius Kovaly (1919-2010) : Under a Cruel Star: A Life in Prague 1941–1968

First posted January 26, 2017 Three forces carved the landscape of my life. Two of them crushed half the world. The third was very small and weak and, actually, invisible. It was a shy little bird hidden in my rib cage an inch or two above my stomach. Sometimes in the most unexpected moments the… Read More Heda Margolius Kovaly (1919-2010) : Under a Cruel Star: A Life in Prague 1941–1968

Ann O’Loughlin – How the Trans-Siberian railway became the love train

First posted July 22, 2017 Ann O’Loughlin set off across the Soviet Union nearly 30 years ago, looking for adventure and a chance to practise her Russian. Instead, she met a fascinating stranger in a leather jacket in the next carriage … The Trans-Siberian railway, the greatest train journey in the world, is where our… Read More Ann O’Loughlin – How the Trans-Siberian railway became the love train

‘I longed for the moment you would write’: The Gulag penpals whose love lasted 60 years

Kasia Delgado First posted September 7, 2019 Vladimir was sentenced to 10 years’ hard labour. Ivanna was Prisoner 108, and his secret correspondent. She looks back on a love affair with a man she never met In 1953, a young Ivanna Maszczak trudged through the Siberian labour camp in which she was serving a 10-year… Read More ‘I longed for the moment you would write’: The Gulag penpals whose love lasted 60 years