The Railway Man by Eric Lomax

The story unfolds like a movie; the book is a real page turner. After reaching the end, I searched and you know what the movie has been released recently (2013) by the same name.

It is a touching account of a British POW in the Far East during the Second World War. Eric Lomax was really tortured till death for possessing a wireless receiver- radio and a very accurate hand drawn map of the eastern railways. But survived.

I was not that much impressed by the explicit torture narrative as I am also well aware how British treated their POWs and colonial citizens. Most of Eric’s colleagues and enemies feared him dead. Eric Lomax account of meeting the Japanese interpreter who was the cause of all his misfortunes is really interesting, from enemies to friends. Even after war, free from POW camp and back in UK, Lomax had so much   bitterness towards Nagase (Jap interpreter). But how they met and reconciled is worth reading. So it happens. This is life. It is just a matter of time. Time heals.

Eric returns from Japan with fond memories of Nagase. Moral of the story “Forgive and forget”, I appreciate Lomax for his forgiveness. Nagase had also changed for good, and was doing many good deeds now.

It is rightly said everything is fair in love and war. He lived to write the book after fifty long years. I loved reading Lomax description about his brief stay in India and mention about the Garhwali soldiers he was commanding in Singapore.