Recollections that well up the eyes NB: This little remembrance was part of my presentation to a conference held between December 15 and 16 in Presidency University, Kolkata, to celebrate Professor Ranajit Guha’s attainment of the status of a centurion. I take no credit for it beyond that of asking my old friend and comrade… Read More Achintya Barua remembers Ranajit Guha
First posted January 19, 2019 Rabindra Ray, who taught sociology at the Delhi School of Economics till his retirement a few years ago, died on January 15, 2019. For 52 years I called him Lalloo (with two l’s). His death has led to an outpouring of memories from his friends and students. This is one… Read More Remembering Rabindra
First posted November 22, 2015 On November 6, 2015, I visited Naxalbari along with my old comrades, Rabindra Ray (Lalloo), who retired from the Delhi School of Sociology in 2013; and Achintya Barua, (Monju), proprietor of Wild Grass, a tourist resort at the wild life sanctuary in Kaziranga, Assam. Rabindra’s book, The Naxalites and their… Read More In Naxalbari, forty-eight years later
First posted May 26, 2013 By Dilip Simeon; published in Hindustan Times, 28 April 2008 The Supreme Court’s observations (March 31) regarding the armed group named ‘Salwa Judum’ affect not only the state of Chhatisgarh, where this group operates, but pose questions to major actors across the political spectrum. Admitting two public interest petitions on… Read More On the Salwa Judum (2008)
First posted October 24, 2011 the shifting space, the stepoutside, away into another lifeon a street next to mine that drew me to itself, you and hera few bricks, some wood, a littlewithered grass, and children, shriekingas they played so save the hours, the days, the monthsthat you dreamt of a new spinein the universe,… Read More Salaam comrade
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
First posted May 02, 2013 “Even if we are unable to win in our battle, my darling, try you must to be at the head of the caravan engaged in the battle for truth. It is far from my dream that you grow up to be a Sikh, Hindu or Muslim. Try you must to… Read More Baldev Singh Mann: My darling daughter! (1986)
Dilip Simeon Permanent spring: Seminar # 607, March 2010 ON 30 April 1908, two young men, Prafulla Chaki and Khudiram Bose, entered the boundary of the Muzaffarpur Club in Bihar and waited for the hated judge Douglas Kingsford to appear. They were members of Jugantar, the foremost nationalist-revolutionary group to emerge during the Swadeshi movement… Read More Permanent Spring: Indian Maoism and the Philosophy of Insurrection
First posted May 3, 2017 NB: This article appeared under the title 50 years of Naxalbari in CatchNews on May 1, 2017. I post it below with my original title. It is the first of two articles I wrote about the first phase of Naxalism. The second appeared in Outlook on May 15, I’ve posted it here: Yesterday once more. I take… Read More Annihilation – 50 years of Naxalbari
First posted May 6, 2017 NB: This is the second of two pieces that I have written for publication on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Naxalbari. It has appeared today in Outlook. I post it here under the title that I gave it. The first one was entitled Annihilation. And this post has photos from a… Read More Yesterday once more – 50 years after Naxalbari
After the truth-shower 