SOLOMON HUGHES recommends Sunjeev Sahota’s recent novel set in a trade union election campaign for its fresh approach to what unites and divides workers, but wishes the union backdrop was truer to life
AVATR SINGH SADIQ was born on April 13 1941 in the small village of Chak, now in Pakistan, and following the partition of 1947, which is stained with inhumanity and the blood of so many of innocent people on both sides of this divide, his parents managed to reach their original home Kahlon, a small village in East Punjab.
His mother died when he was only 11. His father was a poor peasant and married again to support the family as was the requirement to sustain life.
His stepmother did not treat him so well, but he never blamed her or his stepbrothers for it. He remained very close to his stepbrothers and sisters. The painful experiences of childhood had a deep impact on his personality which gave him a sense of humanity and kindness.
Modi has rolled out the carpet for the Taliban in New Delhi — and we shouldn’t be surprised. They have more in common than you might think, argues Bhabani Shankar Nayak



