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Kundanlal's life reads like an epic: a poor boy from Ludhiana, married at 13, who sold everything from timber and salt to lab gear and bullock-cart wheels.

Offered a managerial role at the imaginary "Kundan Cloth Mills" in Ludhiana - with housing, profit share, and safe passage - he seized the chance to start over.

In October 1938, Losch became the first of Kundanlal's recruits to arrive in Ludhiana.

Alfred and Lucy Wachsler, with their infant son, arrived by sea, rail, and road - finally stepping off the train at Ludhiana.

As the months passed in Ludhiana, the initial relief gave way to boredom.