Nariman Karkaria

An Indian-Parsi soldier who fought in World War I, Karkaria is one of the two Indian soldiers who have left behind a first-hand account of the War. Karkaria was also one of the few soldiers who saw action on three different theatres or fronts of the Great War-the Western front, the Western-Asian (Middle-Eastern) front and ultimately the Balkans front, being part of some of the most important battles as well such as the Battle of Somme and the Battle of Jerusalem. He returned to his hometown of Navsari, Gujarat in May 1920 and started writing columns in a Gujarati newspaper chronicling his war experiences. These columns were then collected and published in the form of a book titled Rangbhoomi par Rakhad. This has been recently translated into English by Murali Ranganathan as The First World War Adventures of Nariman Karkaria: A Memoir.