Lagu was rushed to the local shop where he was provided with a shirt and a pair of shorts, but no shoes, and sent off on the four-day journey towards his first regular education. It was nine months before he came home for the holidays.

Gandhi has provided a splendid tour de force of aspects of Muslim, mainly political, thinking during a crucial period of the sub-continent's history.

Taken hostage? How would you cope?The knock on the door, the knife or bullet, the disappearance,the interrogation - it might happen anywhere, from Irelandto Argentina, in London or Paris as well as Beirut.For Jean Waddell it happened in Tehran. Seven years later she talks about her experiences to 'For A Change'.by Mary Lean

An old patient of mine and her husband sought my help to make peace with their 20-year-old son.

These days I often find myself in Shahibag, which now houses the papers, personal effects and photos of Vallabhbhai Patel, whose biography I am writing. Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru together administered India between Independence in 1947 and December 1950, when Patel died. Nehru was Prime Minister and Patel was styled Deputy Prime Minister, but they shared power equally and jointly.