It was during my growing up years that I first heard of the Nathu La and Cho La battles from my father, an army veteran of the India–Pakistan 1965 war, who also lived in northeast India and Sikkim. This book is a tribute to him. It is also an homage to those brave souls who laid down their lives while defending the country in the twin battles of 1967.
The journey of writing the book began in 2017. I was recounting the story of India’s victory over China to my friend and journalist Sriram Karri and he suggested I write on the subject.
I am grateful to General Bipin Rawat, Indian army chief, for his early encouragement. The erudite Lieutenant General Rakesh Sharma’s knowledge and guidance on sources helped immensely. The process took me to several places where I met sources with first-hand tales. I am indebted to the battle heroes Kul Bhushan Joshi, Bishan Singh, Tinjong Lama, Sheru Thapliyal, Narayan Parulekar, Bala Ganapathy for narrating painstaking ground-level accounts of the battle scenes. Sagat Singh’s granddaughter, Meghna, son, Ranvijay, and his former ADC, Major General Randhir Sinh, graciously shared notes and pictures about the period – I thank them all immensely. V.K. Singh, who has written on the battle, shared his thoughts on the finer aspects.
Regimental history notes of 11 GR and Grenadiers, along with help from the 2nd Grenadiers – the Nathu La battalion – helped piece together lesser known anecdotes. Interviews with Lieutenant General J.B.S. Yadav, a 1971 war hero, Colonel B.K.D. Badgel and Gautam Das assisted in sketching the events of the 1960s. In Sikkim, the magnanimous Major General K.V.S. Lalotra helped me find my way and I was fortunate to have the support of Major General Raja Subramani, 17 Mountain Division, Sikkim Scouts and the dogged Nitin Shrestha.
The body of research couldn’t have happened without the untiring efforts of the talented Mehr Gill and the meticulous Mangesh Sawant. Thanks to Jason Jacob, Mehr and Mangesh for reading my initial drafts and to Sriram for his sharp eye and wise feedback. The book wouldn’t have been the same without the steady support of author and literary agent Kanishka Gupta and his team at Writer’s Side. Kanishka’s astute feedback and prudent suggestions helped me stay on track.
Special thanks to Chiki Sarkar and her wonderful team at Juggernaut for the tremendous support. The calm passion and acumen of Parth Mehrotra was instrumental in honing and shaping the draft. I am indebted to him and editors Arushi Singh and Swarnima Narayan for taking the narrative from the stage of a preliminary copy to the book you are reading now.
I am grateful to friends and acquaintances who have been supportive during the journey of this book: Manish Kumar, Major General (retd) V.K. Pillai, Shankar Rajesh, Anand Sinha, Major General B.J. Gupta, Sudesh Dhanda, Lieutenant General Narasimhan, Sangram Nalwaya, Ambassador P. Stopdan, Abhishek Dwivedi, Brigadier Salil Seth, Lathika Swami. I thank S.S. Pundir, Vijay Shekhar Sharma for their prompt assistance and Vivek Naithani, who helped negotiate obstacles to track primary sources. Thanks to Manish Mall, with whom I often exchanged opinions about the subject. I wish to thank the other publishers who showed interest in the early stage of the book idea. I also owe a special note of gratitude to my schoolteacher, Ahmed Ansari, who taught me to write early on.
Lastly, the book would never have been complete without the love and support of my wife, Nisha, and her unwavering belief in my work, despite my absences on account of research and work. Thanks to my children – Siddharth and Arayna – who had to patiently endure my repetitive stories, and my mother, Shyamla, who has been a steady, calm support. Grateful to my brother, Protip, who has been one of the most passionate backers of the story.
I am also obliged to the various authors of articles, books, notes, research material available on the subject that helped me complete the book. Watershed 1967 does not seek to provide a historical account of conflicts involving India and China, as there are more detailed accounts by several historians. Instead, this book delves into a gap in the established historical narrative to identify the role of a forgotten conflict in India–China relations and its impact on the events that followed.