Shah Nawaz Khan was a prisoner of his circumstance when the Japanese captured him from the South Asia theatre. It was not his war and he did not know what he was doing in an alien battlefield.

It was a cynicism he carried with him even after the Japanese turned him and other prisoners to the Indian National Army (INA) for commissioning. It was not until Netaji arrived on the scene to take over the reign of the fledgling INA that things began to look up for them.

Netaji at once set out to transform a demoralised army into a first-rate fighting force that was motivated and raring to go.

I was in the ancillary unit of the INA, and as part of a detached corp, I was in a position to study the goings-on in various units at the time.

Netaji's magic worked on every soldier and before long, Shah Nawaz was under his spell too. Although he did not exemplify himself in war, he remained loyal to Netaji till the end of the war.