My earliest memories are of Methodist Mission quarters in the diocese of Dilkusha, Fiji. Dilkusha, the name of a minor Indian principality, was mentioned in E.M. Forster’s classic novel A Passage to India: its name literally means “Heart’s Delight” in Hindi–Urdu.
After 30 years in Iran, Noorullah found himself on a bus in the Afghan city of Herat. He clutched all the documents that made up the life of his 21-year-old son, Rohullah, who was the reason his family was headed back to Kabul for the first time in decades.
Rohullah was killed instantly when a missile struck the Tehran apartment complex he had been staying in: “My son was martyred,” Noorullah said.