India, Sept. 30 -- What compelled you to bring together stories of love and war?

I am a fauji brat so in many ways the two have always gone together in my life. My father served in all three branches of the Indian military, initially as a young GD pilot in the air force, becoming one of the country's first naval aviators on the INS Vikrant, and then as gunner in the army. My first memories date back to the 1971 war with scary nights of blackouts against air raids, of my mother and other army wives waiting anxiously for news while also trying to support each other and their families. I remember my mother's relief when my father returned along with the grief and sadness that so many people we knew in our daily lives did not. At the same ti...