Time, they say, is a great healer. May be-But it does leave a scar behind. The visible one can still be fixed. Invisible ones often last lifetime. I had my own ‘scar-y’ experience in childhood, not a very scary one though :). It so happened one winter afternoon that we were on our regular excursion of ‘fruit picking’. The target today being ‘bor’(jujube) . A bit about the fruit picking first. It was our first exposure to the world of espionage and piracy. Way different than the fancier ‘apple picking’ or ‘strawberry picking’ experiences of today. Our town, which in today’s times would have resembled a national reserve for its lush greenery,was abound with fruits of all kinds ranging from Alphonso, gooseberry,pomogranade, guava,conkerberry,bor ,banana and many others. So it would only be natural for the decedents of apes to be attracted towards them. Fruit picking for us was a serious business. It all started with identifying the ‘target’ followed by intense reconnaissance of the property. All data like number of family members, their movements, visitors, neighbors,office shifts etc was gathered and a date and time for operation finalized. Quite often we took help from a ‘local handler’ who was familiar with the terrain. Once the operation was finalized, we would gather our weapons like catapult, pebbles, and small stones.The operation involved specialists taking down the targets with their weapons, while the rest would collect the fallen loot and arrange for logistics to be taken back home. Depending on the need, some commandos called climbers would climb up on the targets to wipe out the enemy targets. Once in our territory, we would distribute the loot (the captain would get a majority share-even back then!!) and enjoy the ‘fruits’ of our hard work! But as is the case in the world of espionage, not all operations were successful. Often we fell into the trap set up by the ‘enemy’ and were punished. Punishment usually consisted of scolding, handing over the ‘loot’, reporting to our parents and occasionally a threat of informing the school. Seldom physical assault. The excursions nevertheless went on season after season.
So I happened to be the local handler for operation ‘Bor’ on that fateful day. Things were going smoothly inside Mrs Sonawane’s compound and we had collected enough bors to last a week when we heard a ‘THUD’ from the farther side of Mrs Sonawane’s backyard. I made the cardinal mistake of ignoring the noise, thinking it to be the handiwork (or legwork if you may call it) of Tommy. I was about to resume collecting the loot when I suddenly saw our troopers and looters and climbers all running away in every direction possible. Just as I was about to turn around to find out the reason for this vanishing act, I was lifted three feet above the ground by a monster and dumped a couple of feet away. Before I could gather my thoughts, I saw a furious Daler Singh (name changed) howling at me while bumping me in parallel. My attempts to stand up and flee were met with slaps on my chubby cheeks. I somehow rescued myself and fled for my life, while being continued to be butchered by Daler. He chased me for almost a kilometer before his lungs gave up. I was so shaken and scared that it took me a couple of hours to stabilize, only to realize how big a mess I had landed into. The first thing was to pray that the incident was not reported to my parents, who would not as much worry about my excursions , but for the fact that I was being reported by Daler ,the pig head ! It was after all a matter of prestige! Even if the matter was not reported, I would certainly have a hard time explaining the bruises and dirt on my clothes. We didn’t have parents who would say ‘ Daag acche hain’ ,back then. It took all the wisdom and intellect of a 10 year old to get out of this situation unscathed-only to deal with serious after effects. The ‘THUD’, by the way, was one of our stone missiles hitting Daler’s bicycle!
Having known that I was scared of him, Daler, the pig head that he was, got into the habit of chasing me every now and then. I was scared to death. To make matters worse, Daler’s home was on my way to school and play and practically every other place I would need to go! I was scared even of getting out of my house, changed my school route, avoided friends for the fear that I would be caught and every night slept with the burden of being assaulted by ‘the’ Daler. There was no way I could tell my parents. So I suffered-silently. It continued for months or may be a year or so. The fear eventually made its way to caution and I resumed my normal life. As I grew bigger and stronger, I had no reason to fear Daler at all. But the scar persisted. It does, to this day. Rarely, but surely on days like today, the scar reminds me of the humiliation and assault and the dark nights that I spent.
1962 was a scar that three generations of Indians had to live with for past fifty five years. Ironically a vast majority of us were not even born before the China war. But we still continue to collectively bear the burden of humiliation. It was a war India lost militarily, strategically and psychologically. The damage done during the war and losing of the territory was nothing compared to the aftermath. We never seemed to recover from 1962 and even if we did, the scar always remained, reminding us every moment of the humiliation we suffered. It is precisely in this context that the outcome of the Doklam conflict has to be viewed from. From the very first day, the conflict was never about the ‘chicken’s neck’ or helping Bhutan. People in the know can cite hundreds of examples where the Chinese soldiers have intentionally or un-intentionally transgressed. While accepting that they become bolder over time, to quote the Prime Minister in his own words (prior to Doklam), there had been peace at the border since 1962. As for building a motorable road, in that kind of weather, any road would no longer be ‘motorable’ after a year! Such a high degree of maintenance and serviceability would render it cost ineffective and strategically less significant. Also with the strategic advantage that India enjoys being positioned on the ‘heights’, anything that crosses the line during conflicts would be butchered. So with or without road, China always was and would have remained at a strategic disadvantage, militarily.
What then was the real reason for Chinese advances and India’s resistance? It certainly goes beyond the ‘road building’ and ‘helping Bhutan’ narrative. Tensions have been simmering. The Indian side was peeved by Chinese non-cooperation on issues like NSG membership and Security Council resolution for declaring Hafeez Sayed a designated terrorist. Add to this the increased Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea, OBOR which completely disregarded India’s concern of territorial sovereignty and China cozying up with its neighbors by loosening purse strings. On the Chinese side, India’s non participation in OBOR initiative (India was the only major nation to skip the summit) and partnering with the US and Japan on strategic and military matters definitely antagonized China. So the stage had been set before the conflict. The Doklam ‘road building’ was an excuse. It is possible that an alert Indian side got wind of it and responded speedily. But given the circumstances before (The PM’s mention about peace on border just days prior to Doklam logjam) and the manner in which India conducted afterwards, lends credence to a theory that the Indian side had planned for this either based on intelligence inputs or yearly patterns. The Chinese fell into a trap. A trap they found difficult to get out of with their usual 3 war strategy. Whatever may be the case, India decided to finally stand up and give it back in kind. Post that, it was a brilliant execution of strategy on all fronts. The war ,as per Sun Tzu was won even before it was fought! China hardly had any options. It was India’s win all the way. Strategically this was a bigger win than 1962 simply because of the fact that we live in different times with information spreading at the speed of light. So don’t be surprised that some other nations are emboldened to stand up against Chinese aggression, with support from ‘like minded nations’. The biggest loss for China is -The veil over their invincibility has been taken off for once.
Nobody expects the Chinese to sit idle. They may definitely wait for an opportunity to get even. We may be headed for tough times. But for now, we can bask in our glory!
The scar has been wiped clear- finally!
So I happened to be the local handler for operation ‘Bor’ on that fateful day. Things were going smoothly inside Mrs Sonawane’s compound and we had collected enough bors to last a week when we heard a ‘THUD’ from the farther side of Mrs Sonawane’s backyard. I made the cardinal mistake of ignoring the noise, thinking it to be the handiwork (or legwork if you may call it) of Tommy. I was about to resume collecting the loot when I suddenly saw our troopers and looters and climbers all running away in every direction possible. Just as I was about to turn around to find out the reason for this vanishing act, I was lifted three feet above the ground by a monster and dumped a couple of feet away. Before I could gather my thoughts, I saw a furious Daler Singh (name changed) howling at me while bumping me in parallel. My attempts to stand up and flee were met with slaps on my chubby cheeks. I somehow rescued myself and fled for my life, while being continued to be butchered by Daler. He chased me for almost a kilometer before his lungs gave up. I was so shaken and scared that it took me a couple of hours to stabilize, only to realize how big a mess I had landed into. The first thing was to pray that the incident was not reported to my parents, who would not as much worry about my excursions , but for the fact that I was being reported by Daler ,the pig head ! It was after all a matter of prestige! Even if the matter was not reported, I would certainly have a hard time explaining the bruises and dirt on my clothes. We didn’t have parents who would say ‘ Daag acche hain’ ,back then. It took all the wisdom and intellect of a 10 year old to get out of this situation unscathed-only to deal with serious after effects. The ‘THUD’, by the way, was one of our stone missiles hitting Daler’s bicycle!
Having known that I was scared of him, Daler, the pig head that he was, got into the habit of chasing me every now and then. I was scared to death. To make matters worse, Daler’s home was on my way to school and play and practically every other place I would need to go! I was scared even of getting out of my house, changed my school route, avoided friends for the fear that I would be caught and every night slept with the burden of being assaulted by ‘the’ Daler. There was no way I could tell my parents. So I suffered-silently. It continued for months or may be a year or so. The fear eventually made its way to caution and I resumed my normal life. As I grew bigger and stronger, I had no reason to fear Daler at all. But the scar persisted. It does, to this day. Rarely, but surely on days like today, the scar reminds me of the humiliation and assault and the dark nights that I spent.
1962 was a scar that three generations of Indians had to live with for past fifty five years. Ironically a vast majority of us were not even born before the China war. But we still continue to collectively bear the burden of humiliation. It was a war India lost militarily, strategically and psychologically. The damage done during the war and losing of the territory was nothing compared to the aftermath. We never seemed to recover from 1962 and even if we did, the scar always remained, reminding us every moment of the humiliation we suffered. It is precisely in this context that the outcome of the Doklam conflict has to be viewed from. From the very first day, the conflict was never about the ‘chicken’s neck’ or helping Bhutan. People in the know can cite hundreds of examples where the Chinese soldiers have intentionally or un-intentionally transgressed. While accepting that they become bolder over time, to quote the Prime Minister in his own words (prior to Doklam), there had been peace at the border since 1962. As for building a motorable road, in that kind of weather, any road would no longer be ‘motorable’ after a year! Such a high degree of maintenance and serviceability would render it cost ineffective and strategically less significant. Also with the strategic advantage that India enjoys being positioned on the ‘heights’, anything that crosses the line during conflicts would be butchered. So with or without road, China always was and would have remained at a strategic disadvantage, militarily.
What then was the real reason for Chinese advances and India’s resistance? It certainly goes beyond the ‘road building’ and ‘helping Bhutan’ narrative. Tensions have been simmering. The Indian side was peeved by Chinese non-cooperation on issues like NSG membership and Security Council resolution for declaring Hafeez Sayed a designated terrorist. Add to this the increased Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea, OBOR which completely disregarded India’s concern of territorial sovereignty and China cozying up with its neighbors by loosening purse strings. On the Chinese side, India’s non participation in OBOR initiative (India was the only major nation to skip the summit) and partnering with the US and Japan on strategic and military matters definitely antagonized China. So the stage had been set before the conflict. The Doklam ‘road building’ was an excuse. It is possible that an alert Indian side got wind of it and responded speedily. But given the circumstances before (The PM’s mention about peace on border just days prior to Doklam logjam) and the manner in which India conducted afterwards, lends credence to a theory that the Indian side had planned for this either based on intelligence inputs or yearly patterns. The Chinese fell into a trap. A trap they found difficult to get out of with their usual 3 war strategy. Whatever may be the case, India decided to finally stand up and give it back in kind. Post that, it was a brilliant execution of strategy on all fronts. The war ,as per Sun Tzu was won even before it was fought! China hardly had any options. It was India’s win all the way. Strategically this was a bigger win than 1962 simply because of the fact that we live in different times with information spreading at the speed of light. So don’t be surprised that some other nations are emboldened to stand up against Chinese aggression, with support from ‘like minded nations’. The biggest loss for China is -The veil over their invincibility has been taken off for once.
Nobody expects the Chinese to sit idle. They may definitely wait for an opportunity to get even. We may be headed for tough times. But for now, we can bask in our glory!
The scar has been wiped clear- finally!
