My father wrote this letter while in the army, during the war, so it was written before or during 1945... to my mother Alys who is British. She met my father in Amritsar, in 1938... on a visit to her sister who was married to the writer and teacher, Dr. Taseer, a founder member of the Progressive Writers Association and a friend of my fathers.

My mother was a member of the Communist Party in London at age sixteen. While assisting Krishna Menon as secretary in his London attic she was also supporter of the Free India League in London. A friend of Mulk Raj Anand long before she came to India she was in fact, a fire-brand who shared our common history! In my father’s years in jail she worked as a journalist, and supported my sister and me for five difficult years. Her letters written to my father during those years, were published as Dear Heart.