A Life Unveiled : My Encounters Across Countries and Cultures

People’s life experiences may be as wide-ranging as their physical appearances. When people ask Razi Azmi “Where are you from?” he takes a deep breath, wondering whether to reply with one word or ask, “How much do you want to know?” From his childhood encounters with “son of the soil” syndrome and the creation of new nations and states under his feet, the story of Azmi’s eventful, peripatetic life will transport the reader over seven decades across many cultures and countries spanning five continents. The author’s youthful immersion into revolutionary activity ends in personal tragedy and his wanderlust takes him to places others avoid. While his freethinking ways land him into a KGB honey trap in Soviet Russia, his precocity averts a CIA attempt to recruit him as an “asset” in Morocco. From rural Bangladesh to the charged immigration desk of Australia’s busiest airport, Azmi’s gift for anecdotes brings to life his many encounters with students, colleagues, and strangers, both friendly and deceitful, and raises important questions about human nature, personal identity, and patriotic delusion.