When Bollywood blockbuster ‘Airlift‘ released in late January this year, it brought back bittersweet memories of the Gulf War. My family and I were in Kuwait during the summer of 1990, and through the innocent eyes of adolescence, I can still vividly remember all that unfolded.

Airlift is an action-packed Bollywood movie that is based on the real-life bravery of an Indian businessman. Mathunny Mathews is credited for being one of the people responsible for fixing a deal with the Indian government and safely airlifting over 170,000 Indians back to India from Iraq-invaded Kuwait. Till this movie came out, I had never heard of Mr. Mathews, and if he ever reads this, I would like to say we are eternally grateful to him as my family and I were one of the many families who’s lives he managed to save.

However, our story in Iraq-invaded Kuwait was rather different from what was portrayed in the movie, and given today is August 2nd, the 26th anniversary of the Iraqi invasion, I wanted to share some of my personal memoirs from the Gulf War with you.