A Novel set in the pre-independence era depicting an errant boy from an educated middle-class family who walks out of his house in protest to join the Army when the fires of World War 2 were raging high. He embarks on a unique journey after he is shipped off to the Northern Coast of Africa to fight for the British Empire. His journey takes him through Italy, Iran and then to Kashmir and Leh. Initially unaware, he joins the Azad Hind force and wins for them a dangerous mission in Brahmadesh. He never gets too attached to anything, this quality guides him back home with a heart full of new understanding, compassion, and empathy for the world. He is re-united with a sapling that he sowed in a professor’s garden before leaving, only to see its beautiful green leaves and its slender brown trunk planted in the ground. Alive, with a simple joy known as Ananda. “If more people loved home more than Gold and silver. This world would be a merrier place” (Thorin from The Hobbit) -JRR Tolkein