May 3, 2014 A look at the Indian experience of the Great War as seen through soldiers' letters and folk songs. <<< Kamila Shamsie's A God in Every Stone begins with an archaeological dig; a quest for a circlet in stone, at the sangam (confluence) of empires - Persian Greek, and Indian - in Peshawar. The dig reveals a palimpsest of sculptural styles across those cultures. The principal character Qayyum is a letter writer's son who writes letters; a Lance Naik of the 40th Pathans who has his right eye blown off in Ypres in 1914 and is subsequently discharged. Perhaps fortunately, for many young men were patched up and returned to the western front. He writes letters for his non-literate comrades from the Allied Front to their families and, on returning to Peshawar, writes on behalf of families to the sepoys still serving. As a scribe, he learns of the death of a sepoy who had saved his life. (snip) >>> http://www.thehindu.com/books/literary-review/writing-home/article5970177.ece ---- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar