Sheela Reddy profiles historian Upinder Singh in Outlook. I like the idea of visiting ancient sites while writing about them. Also I did not know that the simple game of Pithoo, is 5,000 years old..I like her middle path approach critiquing both hyper-nationalist right-wingers or blindly following the Marxist historians. You can't miss it," says historian Upinder Singh rather apologetically, giving directions to her home in the St Stephen's staff quarters. "It looks like a fortress." It does: a towering blank metal gate, of which a chocolate square pops open at the first knock to reveal the head of a grim securityman. And there's a whole posse of Black Cats behind the gate, befitting the home of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's daughter. But inside, it's a different world: cane chairs, cement floors and peeling white walls. The shabby-genteel world of two university dons who, between them, share most of the housework—there's a part-time cook, Neen...
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