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In The Lion’s Den
About three months into my freshman year as a lawyer, my mentor, Michael, announced that I was ready for my first trial by fire. “Trial”, that is, literally. I had already appeared in court on a couple of motions relating to a matter and, under Michael’s guidance,...
Previous Posts
Massacre at Thamali
My mother Mahinder Kaur has a tattoo, Ik Onkaar ("All is One"), on her right wrist. She got it at a fair to celebrate having received Amrit (coming-of-age initiation into the full discipline of Sikh...
Back To The Future
I feel like I’ve emerged from a time machine a la H G Wells. Or been through an adventure in a “Back To The Future” sequel with Marty McFly and Doc Brown. I really do. 35 years later. I’m now back...
In The Aftermath
As I get older, my memory of names and places from my latter years falters from time to time, but strangely, the details of what I can still remember from my earliest childhood is eerie. I surprise...
A Second ‘Hit-and-Run’
Eglinton Avenue runs east and west in Toronto. On the south side, midway between Don Mills Road and Leslie Avenue, a private road exits from the main thoroughfare, negotiates a tight loop before...
Of Scarlet Tunics and Blue Blood
It would be trite to state that the true mettle of any nation and its armed forces can be gauged by the manner in which it treats and honours its soldiers - particularly in peacetime, and especially...
Myth History Religion
Many of my travels have been around locales closely associated with myth and legend. Tales and epics add a delicious dimension to the pleasure of going off the beaten track, and inject an element of...
Whispers In The Night
Deep in southern Egypt, close to the Sudanese border, sits the town of Aswan, famous for its ancient temples, Philae and Kabasha, and for its modern temple, the Aswan High Dam - until a few years...
The Wrath of ‘Mother’ Ganges
Growing up in the provincial city of Patna was mostly idyllic, and I have wonderful memories of it. One particular exception, however, occasionally invades my sleep. The cowardly, precipitous flight...
Being Different
There were no turbaned lawyers in the country when I was sworn in as a barrister and solicitor, and started practising in Toronto as a litigation lawyer/attorney in the Spring of 1985. If I stood...
Rose Petals
Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,Who never to himself hath said,This is my own, my native land!Whose heart hath ne’er within him burn’d,As home his footsteps he hath turn’d,From wandering...
Master Sandler
Even though I was aware of the existence of shady characters in the profession before I became a lawyer, I was not at all prepared for Noah Abram, Q.C. [Not his real name, because he’s been dead for...
Picnic With The Pyramids
There was a time when a trip to the great pyramids of Giza required a full day: getting out of Cairo in itself involved a lengthy ordeal. Giza then was clearly another town, requiring a drive and a...
The Laws of Zumera – The Night of The Speeches
One day during my first visit to the island, I received a puzzling call from my in-laws. Puzzling because the invitation was: “Come for dinner, both of you. The speeches are on tonight.” “Speeches?”...
Why We Celebrate Diwali
When I was a child, nothing grabbed the imagination of one growing up in India more than the magic and joie de vivre of Diwali. The festival of lights may have changed somewhat since then ... what...
Road Trips
No matter when or where or how I now travel, I find that I am forever trying to replicate - but am only seldom able to - the pleasures I encountered on family road-trips during my childhood. Not...
The Burning Bush
The Old Testament revered by Christians, Muslims and Jews alike, contains this story: ‘The angel of the Lord appeared to [Moses] in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush...
Books By Sher
