However, with the onset of the First World War, he was desperate to volunteer for the British Army. Nariman eked out an existence in Hong Kong and Peking for a while. Such was his urge to explore the world that he raised his passage money by selling the gold chain of his watch and the gold buttons of his jacket. Hailing from Navsari, a small town in south Gujarat, Karkaria’s insatiable quest for adventure inspired him to board the steamer, Capri, bound for Hong Kong. Karkaria’s account is exceptional as it functions both as travelogue and war memoir. Murali Ranganathan’s brilliant translation of Nariman Karkaria’s memoir, Rangbhoomi par Rakhad (1922), from the original Gujarati, is a crucial addition to this distinct literature collating the Indian experience of the conflict.
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