'Lt Bharati "Asha" Sahay Choudhry--Asha-san in her first home in Japan--tells the gripping story of her unusual life. As the eldest daughter of a couple of Indian expatriate freedom fighters, she had burned with the desire to fight for the independence of her faraway motherland, India. She was allowed to leave her war-torn first home, Japan, to join the Rani of Jhansi Regiment of the Indian National Army by her commander-in-chief Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, at the age of only seventeen, in March 1945. After the defeat of the Indian National Army in August 1945, she came to India in 1946, where she made her new home in the country to which she had devoted her love and her wish to sacrifice everything. With her indomitable spirit she is a true Rani of Jhansi in her ripe age.'

-- Anita Bose Pfaff, daughter of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose

'Bharati "Asha" Sahay's war diary is a deeply moving first-hand account of the patriotic fervour of the Azad Hind movement led by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose as seen through the eyes of an idealistic teenager as she travelled from Japan via Taiwan to Thailand to join the Rani of Jhansi Regiment. It documents the dramatic impact of the saga of Netaji and the INA on the Indian people in the aftermath of World War II, as she travels across India with her father Anand Mohan Sahay and is eventually reunited with her mother Sati Sen in 1947. This evocative translation of a diary originally written in Japanese will be an inspiration for the younger generation of Indians on the 75th anniversary of independence.'

-- Sugata Bose, Gardiner Professor of Oceanic History and Affairs, Harvard University, and author of His Majesty's Opponent: Subhas Chandra Bose and India's Struggle Against Empire

'A valuable first-hand account of an important part of history, still relatively untold, when the struggle for Indian independence crossed paths with the war in the Far East. Asha-san's memoirs bring out her love for Japan, as well as her fierce love for India, and provide a cultural cross-reference that is not available in Allied accounts of the Second World War. Seen through the unfiltered lens of a seventeen-year-old who signs up for the Rani of Jhansi Regiment, it is a glimpse into the leadership of Subhas Chandra Bose in the Far East and the organization of the INA. This translation will bring a complicated story to a wider readership. It shows that the narrative of war and independence is never black-and-white, and not always the one told by the victors.'

-=- Shrabani Basu, author of Victoria & Abdul: The True Story of the Queen's Closest Confidant

'This is a beautiful, engrossing book that I wholeheartedly recommend to every Indian. The role of militant women in national liberation struggles is forgotten all too soon, and they become mere footnotes in history. Lt Bharati "Asha" Sahay Choudhry, of the Rani of Jhansi Regiment of the Indian National Army, is a historical figure in our nation's freedom struggle, and this memoir, in her own words, makes for exhilarating reading. It is humorous (as when she learns Hindi) and exciting (as when she learns to fire a machine gun)--and I urge you to pick up this brilliant memoir.'

-- Meena Kandasamy, author of When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife