Kunal

Kunal Barsar (PROSE: Letters from the Front) was a Hindu man who lived in the Punjab with his younger brothers, Prem and Manish.

Biography
A soldier during the Second World War, Kunal joined up with Prem and was trained in the regimental centre in Lahore. By 21 July 1941, they were undergoing training, with the two brothers ended up in the same unit, which was a rare development. After his medical examination, Kunal was diagnosed as anaemic. He did not know what that meant and took pride in the announcement, leaving Prem to have to explain to him that it was a deficiency. Prem also wrote, affectionately, that Kunal was prone to complaining. With so little resources available, each soldier was only regularly allowed one letter to send to their loved ones. Prem addressed his letters to Umbreen, so Kunal wrote his to Manish, whom he warned not to indulge his ox back home. He offered Manish advice on how to run the farm which his younger brother did not appreciate.

In his spare time, Kunal took up boxing, at which he was not necessarily good but he was at least effective, often flailing around until his opponent submitted. Nevertheless, there were numerous instances were he needed medical attention himself. He gained enough notoriety in the camp for the colonel to challenge him to a match. In the ensuring confrontation, Kunal knocked the colonel over.

On 11 December 1941, Prem wrote that his unit had heard news of the attack by Japan on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor a few days earlier. Kunal met the news with much optimism, calling the Americans a "vengeful bunch" who would help shorten the war substantially. Prem was at a loss as to how Kunal even knew anything about the Americans in the first place.

With the onset of the Pacific War, and in response to further Japanese build-up in French Indochina, Kunal and his unit were moved to Malaya. The British and Indian forces there were involved in fierce fighting against the Japanese advance and fell back to Singapore. (PROSE: Letters from the Front)

In the second week of February 1942, the British decided to evacuate. (AUDIO: The Forsaken) Kunal and Prem were part of a section which found a boat on which they could escape the Japanese onslaught. However, Kunal was separated from the unit and killed. Searching for him, Prem found a Thijarian standing over his dead body and ran away, knowing that he could not save him. The Thijarian appeared to witness Kunal's death in the war as he had died alone. (TV: Demons of the Punjab)

It was not until 15 March 1942 that Prem was able to inform the rest of his family that Kunal was dead. He sent his final wages home alongside the letter. (PROSE: Letters from the Front)

Manish said that he would have preferred Kunal to have come back and survived the Second World War, rather than Prem given Manish's intense dislike and hatred for Prem because he married a Muslim woman, Umbreen. (TV: Demons of the Punjab)