India Charm Offensive

Baffling bureaucracy, backcountry guerrilla insurgents and exotic beauty beyond compare. The author encountered all of these as a helicopter pilot flying government missions in East India. Then, he fell in love.

India Charm Offensive is a lighthearted, humorous memoir of his first year in India. He was an American helicopter pilot who went from flying a wide variety of jobs, lastly off of a Korean fishing vessel in the South Pacific, to transporting Indian paramilitary troopers into and out of remote camps in the jungle. He witnessed the courage of the Indian Police troopers and the mayhem that broke out during the fight against Maoist rebels. Along the way, he experienced the quirksome and often befuddling antics of the locals.

Between missions, he did his best to avoid toxic moonshine and lava-spiced curry, and much to the chagrin of her family and fellow countrymen, became involved with a lovely, dark-eyed university professor. Despite thieving monkeys, an alarming disregard for hygiene, and the constant noise, heat, and chaos, he found something approaching charm. When his first year's contract ended, he signed on for three more in this diverse, perplexing, and beautiful country.