From Panjab to London

In this section Romila Thapar talks about her childhood and family background. Her childhood was spent in various places from the North West Frontier Province of British India to school and college in Pune, before reaching Delhi, from where she went to London. She reflects on the Indian independence movement and the development of her interests in politics. This was almost inevitable among teenagers growing up in the years just before independence and influenced by Indian nationalism. She discusses her reading at that time both of the classics and of popular novels, and describes how she gradually developed an interest in early India. Thapar also shares her experience of the much-discussed Nehruvian ideal of building a new nation and the growth of radical ideas. She describes her years in London, slowly becoming a historian. This brings her to joining Jawaharlal Nehru University and working at the Centre for Historical Studies.