As the far right fulminates about who ‘belongs’ in Britain, let’s remember Fritz Lustig, who arrived here in 1939, just months before war broke out. Initially jailed as an ‘enemy alien’, he played a vital role in a top-secret military intelligence unit Robin Lustig When the Nazis came to power in Germany in January 1933, Fritz Lustig,… Read More My father, the German refugee who fought the Nazis as a ‘secret listener’
Apoorvanand “ Why did Muktibodh became uniquely significant in the summer of 1964? Why did …almost all the weeklies, monthlies and dailies started introducing him to their readers?” Fifty years ago, Shamsher Bahadur Singh, asked this question in the preface to Chand Ka Munh Tedha hai, the first anthology of poems of Muktibodh being compiled. Muktibodh then,… Read More Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh: Put fire back into firewood / The Ultimate expression: Muktibodh’s poem, “Andhere Mein”
The work of one of Italy’s greatest scholars focused on ordinary lives oppressed by power and prejudice. That approach resonates today Guardian Editorial Reflecting on the genesis of his most famous work, Carlo Ginzburg wrote that by immersing himself in the trial of a 16th-century miller burned by the Roman Inquisition, he turned a possible… Read More Carlo Ginzburg: a historian who taught us to think about outsiders
NB: The story of this remarkable man may also be read in Chapter 3, The Heart of the Heart, of Benjamin Labatut’s book When we Cease to understand the World; which is where I first read about hi. Alex Lebrun This is an English translation of a post written in French by my father Gérard Lebrun. The pages… Read More Alexander Grothendieck, the secret genius of mathematics
Let’s withdraw And meet the time as it seeks us: Shakespeare; Cymbeline Monju in Patparganj, Delhi, Winter 1995 Achintya Barua, known as Monju – or Manju – by his vast gathering of friends and accomplices passed away on May 17, 2026. Among the gang of dreamers from our college days six decades ago, he was… Read More Monju: spirit of the trees
A beautiful soul, forever with us Sun sets over Kaziranga Achintya (Monju) Barua, founder of Wild Grass resort Kaziranga; a devotee of wild life and natural conservation; known and loved by numberless people the world over passed away this morning, May 17. We had spoken over the phone at 7.50 am, he was coughing, and… Read More Achintya Barua (1953-2026)
A Tribute to India’s Military Children By Brig Advitya Madan (retd) Spice of Life: Military children bloom everywhere. They are hardy and upright. Their roots are strong. They are ready to fly in the breezes that take them to new adventures, new lands and new friends https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/chandigarh-news/a-salute-to-resilience-of-the-military-child-101650194056954.html ++++++++++++++++ Of Bagpipes, Horses and Golden Orioles (2008) Lt… Read More Like a Dandelion in the Wind
The recent bulldozing of the Gaza War Cemetery has disturbed the final resting place of thousands of soldiers, including those from the British Indian Army. While Australia has expressed outrage, the silence from Southasian governments raises urgent questions about how we value our shared historical memory. By Inderjeet Parmar / Sapan News The Gaza War Cemetery in al-Tuffah,… Read More Desecrating history: Southasia’s silence as Gaza war graves are bulldozed
By JOSEPH FRONCZAK One long century ago, on June 9, 1917, not quite halfway between the February Revolution and the October Revolution, Eric Hobsbawm was born in Alexandria, Egypt. The lifelong communist died only five years ago, in 2012 at the age of ninety-five. He spent his final years placidly convinced that socialism belonged still… Read More Eric Hobsbawm’s Long Century
Frances Stonor Saunders on MI5 and the Hobsbawm File First posted March 26, 2015 On 25 January 1933, the 16-year-old Eric Hobsbawm marched with thousands of comrades through central Berlin to the headquarters of the German Communist Party (KPD). When they arrived at Karl Liebknecht Haus, on the Bülowplatz, the temperature was –18°C. They shuffled and… Read More British Intelligence (MI5)’s file on Eric Hobsbawm
After the truth-shower 