Sojourn India

Whom do I thank for the experiences of life . . . ? As this war memoir with a difference demonstrates, the answer - along, of course, with the author's parents - is the Royal Navy. Sojourn India describes in vivid detail the true story of a nineteen-year-old's tumultuous journey across the Atlantic and via the Suez Canal to HMS Garuda, Coimbatore, India. World War II is drawing to a close, and the young recruits' excitement at their exotic posting soon yields to a pervasive sense of monotony, relieved only by cinema visits, exploring the town Coimbatore and trips to the hills, and - on occasion - casual brutality . . . This thoughtful book paints a compelling picture of India, replete with char-wallahs, snake charmers, ornate temples and packed, breathless trains inching through the flatlands south to the sea. It captures well the tedium and tension of life on a 'stone frigate', from the routine of working as a mechanical engineer on aircraft to the jubilation of VJ Day and, finally, escape.