Series
Roots
Khadur Sahib, the Majha, and Amritsar before the internet. 26 essays · 26 published.
I
Roots — Khadur Sahib and the Majha
12 essays · 12 published- 001Khadur Sahib: Where the Story BeginsAn ancestral town, a childhood city, and what each kind of belonging permits.
- 002The Town That Learned to WriteGurmukhi, the tailless scripts, and what a record owes the person whose words it keeps.
- 003Mata Khivi’s KitchenLangar, the workhouse, and what an institution asks of a hungry person at the door.
- 004The Wrestling GroundThe akhara, Homer’s wrestlers, Nestor’s prize, and attention to the body without judgement.
- 005A Hundred Moons, a Thousand SunsOn Ang 463, abundant light, and the difference between being informed and being oriented.
- 006Succession1539, the mantle of Elijah, and what it takes to hand a teaching on without losing it.
- 007The Majha in SummerThe season between two harvests, the loo, the canals, and a plain that keeps its own scale.
- 008What the Village Knew About IllnessNoticing, remedies, the compounder, and the care a village gave its sick.
- 009Going BackA letter to anyone returning, after years away, to the place they still call home.
- 010The Names on the Gurdwara WallWhat a wall of names records, what it leaves out, and how to read it responsibly.
- 011Punjabi as a First Language of MedicinePain, fever, ghabrahat and tension: against translating too early.
- 012Chai, Rotis, and the Family TableA roti, a cup of chāh, and the right to say enough.
II
Amritsar — Growing Up Before the Internet
14 essays · 14 published- 013Growing Up in AmritsarA hometown as the first scale against which every later place is measured.
- 014The City of the Fourth GuruCommemoration, descent, and the name a city and a medical school share.
- 015Spring Dale School and the Years Before MedicineSchool years graded on their own terms, not as the first chapter of a career.
- 016Seven Children and a SchoolHow a small beginning becomes a school that outlasts its founders.
- 017Where Knowledge Lived: Amritsar, 1995Learning before the internet, and what a scarcity of answers taught.
- 018The Encyclopedia SetThe reference shelf as a first database: arranged, signed, bounded and already dated.
- 019The Teacher Who Made Chemistry Make SenseOn the kind of teacher who explains, and why a good explanation is a gift with edges.
- 020The Library DeskLocating, remembering and understanding are three different kinds of work.
- 021Cricket, Radio, and Long AfternoonsA game with no clock, a voice from the sky, and the kind of time that needed no excuse.
- 022The Day I First Thought I Might Become a DoctorHow a vocation begins as an idea, and why the first day is usually chosen afterwards.
- 023Doctors I Saw as a ChildWhat medical authority looked like from a child’s height in an earlier Punjab.
- 024The Golden Temple at DawnSilence, water, and the discipline of beginning before the day does.
- 025Winter Fog on the Grand Trunk RoadAn old road, a winter that hides it, and the patience of driving at the speed of sight.
- 026What Amritsar Taught Me About CrowdsA city never empty, a crowd made of many purposes, and the waiting room that resembles it.