This collection of firsthand anecdotes is probably no different to many others from a war front, World War II and others. There are definitely other published recollections of the same war fronts from different perspectives and nationalities. This work is, however, not just a recollection of military history and facts. These memoirs describe growing up, training to become a doctor, a love of poetry and music, falling in love, unexpectedly being sent to war, and then returning to witness unabated cruelty in his native land. These are recounted from the perspectives of a healer, a surgeon. Such experiences need to be brought to the attention of the reading world to emphasize the futility of war. Many decades later humans continue to develop and build arms to annihilate fellow humans for reasons of ideology, religion, or definition of national boundaries. The pain, suffering, and the ultimate sacrifice made by the souls that perished would be forgotten and would be futile were it not for publications of this genre. We cannot forget.

It is estimated that over sixty million men and women, military and civilian, western and eastern fronts, died in the War. Indian military casualties are estimated at eighty-eight thousand. The US and Great Britain each lost around four hundred thousand souls.

World War II ended in 1945, but this story continues with his return to

the Indian subcontinent, where he experienced the painful and bloody partition of India and Pakistan as the British departed after centuries of colonial rule. He continued to witness atrocities as humanity had seemingly not learnt from the war. He describes seeing more pain and suffering, now a full-fledged surgeon in his homeland. He and his young family escaped at the last minute to the Indian side of the border in 1947 by the skin of their teeth.