From South Asia to North America

"This book is a description of the life of a South Asian, who lived and worked during the first half of the twentieth century in India and Pakistan, and later in North America. His is a picturesque account of the lifestyle, customs and mores, classical cuisine, parental concerns, monsoon picnics, and plays of love and marriage, all set in the traditional background represented by a three generational middle class family of pre-Partition Delhi." "The author goes on to describe the partition of the Indian subcontinent which turned millions of people into refugees. He himself was among those who migrated to Pakistan bringing along hopes to serve his new homeland. With six years of government service during British rule, and seven with the giant Tata Steel Co., he started afresh with the Remingtons in Lahore, where he worked for a year. He then moved to the US and worked with the UN rising to the top executive level. He brings out the unique character of the UN civil service and its 'invisible powers', and gives a fascinating, insider's description of UN practices and operations, both at the headquarters and out in UN field missions while visiting many countries of South and East Asia, the Middle East, and Africa." "The book ends with a portrayal of the pleasures and travails of retirement, in the life of an Asian immigrant to the West."--BOOK JACKET.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.