It has been four decades since Mr Manohar Singh Khaneja and his family fled Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan for the safer environs of India's capital, New Delhi. Exiled from his homeland, Mr Khaneja's longing for it has not waned.

Sipping cups of kahwa, an Afghan green tea preparation - unlike milky Indian chai - the 68-year-old tells The Straits Times that he continues to be haunted by memories of the places he left behind. "I still dream of our picnics on river banks there, of our strolls in Jalalabad's numerous gardens," he says.