Book Review #105: Himalayan Blunder - The Angry Truth about India’s Most Crushing Military Disaster By Brigadier John Parashuram Dalvi Translated By Ravi Belegere

Title: Himalayan Blunder: The Angry Truth about India’s Most Crushing Military Disaster

Author: Brigadier John Parashuram Dalvi

Translator: Ravi Belegere

Publishers: Bhavana Prakashana

Genre: Military History/War

Pages: 500+ (Original Version) – 198 (Translated Version - Paperback)

Source: Personal Copy

This is the most chilling and humiliating account of India’s war with China in the year 1962. Famously known as Indo-Sino war or Battle of Thagla. Author Brigadier John P. Dalvi was the person who led his 7 Infantry brigade in defending the lands of India and eventually became the war prisoner of China. This book documents the anguish of a war hero that was treated lesser than a human being by the political leadership of India during 1962-63.

As per Dalvi’s account we get to read the most disturbing aspects of the dire military conditions of the India during that time. A belligerent army like India, though totally unprepared, has been ordered to throw the Chinese army out of the borders which India claimed was within the Indian boundary. The Chinese launched a devastating strike against India and occupied most of the territories and pushed back the Indian army within no time. Dalvi was an upstanding officer in the Indian army was firmly believed that China does not have any right over Tibet and that the McMahon line ought to be India’s north east frontier.

It was October 20, 1959, when Havaldar Karam Singh and his 20 strong troops doing their routine border patrolling when all of a sudden nine men from the patrol team were buried under in a matter of seconds in a hailstorm of bullets. Karam singh was taken as a war prisoner. This was the beginning of the Chinese aggression for the very first time; post their war with the Korea. Though it needed time to prepare for the war with India to claim few land areas, it was pushing all its limits to wage a fully fledged war against India. Whereas Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India was preaching the peace to the world.

The then Army chief Genreal Thimmayya’s fear about China stood confirmed. When he confronted the political leadership of the India and demanded the modernization of the army, V.K. Menon, the then Defense Minister of India plainly denied the request and asserted the problem with his own accord. He defended himself by saying; Pakistan is the “Number One” enemy of India and not China. General Thimmayya was amused and disturbed at the defense minister’s remark. Being an upright officer, he said what was bothering him...

“I understand our defense minister’s perspective. I have high regards for his abilities. But, I am aggrieved by his foolishness. One doesn’t rank his enemies as first, second and third. Perhaps, it is done in the communist countries and politics; as an Army Chief, I do not rank my enemies”

I will not be including the blow by blow account of Dalvi in this review. People can read this book. But wait… this book was shamelessly banned in the year 1969. Though there may be copies available in few numbers, what I read is the translated version of this book, penned by Ravi Belegere, a Kannada journalist and author.

Certain section from the book was really interesting to read. Dalvi’s description of the Battle of Tseng Jong, which took place 10 days before the Chinese assault on the Thag La. General Brij Mohan Kaul or B.M. Kaul had ordered 2 Rajput to move up Tseng-Jong and occupy the Yamatso La peak, 16000 feet above the sea level in full Chinese view with no artillery support. Dalvi convinced Kaul to move a patrol of 9 Punjabi to find a suitable crossing place for the Rajputs and cover them from a position at Tseng-Jong.  

A patrol of 50 men led by Major Chaudhary advanced to Tseng Jong. On 10 October 1962, 600 Chinese troops attacked Major Chaudhry’s patrol. It was obvious that they could not hold on for long, though the second Chinese wave was also beaten back, mainly on account of enfilade fire on the assaulting Chinese from the Rajputs hurrying up to Yamatso La. Major Chaudhry asked Dalvi for mortar and machine gun fire as a cover so that they could extricate themselves. Dalvi refused to order the guns and mortars at Bridge 4 to open fire.

The reasons given by Dalvi for his decision are interesting, but I’ll not detail them here. Please read this historical treatise from the book and find out Dalvi’s reasons. Dalvi says that 

“I and I alone, and are responsible for the decision not to allow the mortars and machine guns to open up”. 

Quite unlike BM Kaul who, when things turned bad at Tseng Jong told Dalvi,

“Oh My God! You’re right. China has prepared itself for a full-scale war. It’s each man for him from now on. You’re in charge of your Brigade. This is not in my reach. Only a Brigadier can execute this kind of war. This is your battle.”

And he turned and left, leaving Dalvi to helplessly watch the massacre of the whole platoon. Dalvi records several such incidents where a grossly under prepared Indian army faced the Chinese who were superior to them in every aspect. A most telling instance is

“…. a soldier saluted me as I stepped into the bunker and said, “Sahib, look there! The enemy is on the opposite slope. They’re burning firewood to beat the cold.” I felt a slap of humiliation. This was one of the rare instances this happened in thousands of wars throughout history. Burning a fire at night is a sure invitation for the enemy to attack. But then, this enemy on the slopes of the Thagla Mountain was confident: both of his strength and our sorry state. He knew for certain that we would not attack: we could not.”

In his final journey, he pays homage to every person right from foot soldiers, majors, lance naiks, singnallers, doctors, brigadiers, commanders, his assistant staff, etc… who died defending the indefensible.

“The Chinese used the same war strategies in vogue for centuries but…. their guns were more modern, and their clothes were warmer than ours…. out there, away from the warm world, the October chill doesn’t descend from the skies; it climbs from the depths of the spinal cord. All our men had to wear were cotton clothes suited for summer, shoes which slide on snow… the only colour my men could see was the ash-white colour of death. A flash of sunlight was enough to blind them. This blindness caused several men to walk directly into the waiting arms of the enemy. My request for snow glasses was granted, all right, but when they arrived, the air-dropped bag dropped somewhere in the abyss-like crevices…and those snow glasses were broken into pieces which were not in a condition to wear. My soldiers were left to gaze those glassy snow with their bare eyes and went blind. During those times, without even realizing, my soldiers has walked into the enemy camps”

One must read this book to understand the shamelessness of the Nehru’s government, that failed to supply even the basic necessities like food, water, better clothing, shoes, goggles leave alone the artillery and ammunition. Towards the end, Dalvi and his remaining men went without food for more than 3 days. Without even having a map of route, they walked straight in to the camp that was wholly surrounded by the Chinese troops.

“We descended the Dhola Mountain after the Chinese disappeared from sight. We gave up the final hope of even sighting a small tukdi (regiment) of our men. I descended rapidly out of a sheer will to live. The slope ended in a forest…the path was even tougher to navigate. Meanwhile, I had lost four of the eleven men following me. I reached a clearing, which then led to a small mud road. It was all over.”

Finally John P. Dalvi was captured by the Chinese army on October 22 1962, at 9.22 AM. He remained as a prisoner of war from October 22 1962 till May 1963. The book doesn’t record the event of what happened during Dalvi’s stay at the prisoner camp during those days. I guess this was carefully censored before release of the book. Anyways, the book itself was banned in 1969.

“We landed in Dum Dum airport in Calcutta on May 4 1963. We were received cordially, appropriately. But the silence there was disquieting. I realized later. We had to prove we weren’t brainwashed by Chinese ideology. We had to prove we were still loyal to India. My own army maintained a suspicious distance. The irony cannot be harsher: this treatment from a country, which for more than a decade had brainwashed itself into holding the Chinese baton wherever it went.”

Himalayan Blunder has simply proven its contemporary relevance in the sense of history repeating itself: notice today’s Chinese cheerleaders who occupy disproportionate clout in the UPA government. By the way, the Battle of Thagla began on October 20, 1962 and lasted just over 3 hours, between 5 A.M and 8 A.M. An entire brigade was massacred. The history will never forgive Nehru and his coterie that paved the way for the most humiliating military disaster of Indian history.

My Rating:

5/5

Book Review #104: Uttarakanda By Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa

Title: Uttarakanda

Author: Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa

Publishers: Sahitya Bhandara

Genre: Mythology/General Fiction

Pages: 350+ (Hardbound)

Source: Personal Copy

We all grew up by reading and listening to the stories of the Hindu epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata. We have a sculpted belief that a certain character from certain epic will behave like this and there won’t be any misconduct or any character deviation from their original ones. At times, these beliefs can be shaken to the ground when you come across certain books. At the same time, certain books make you question the reality. This is the very essence of the book “Uttarakhanda” penned by my favorite author, philosopher and a great human being, Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa. He finished writing this book in just 3 months of duration, but took whole 8 months to re-draft each and every chapter before sending it for the publishers. That’s typical SL Bhyrappa’s flavor.

Coming to Uttarakanda, this is the retelling of the Ramayana. But what makes it different from other writers is the theme of the book. This Ramayana is entirely from the viewpoint of Sita. How she sees the entire Ramayana as an event? What was her thought process when she decides to accompany Rama to the exile for 14 years? What were her thoughts when Ravana abducted her from the forest? Etc… The entire narration belongs to Sita in this book. How she endured all those years along with Rama and his brother Lakshmana is pictured vividly, brilliantly. This is one of the hearts wrenching narration of the Ramayana I’ve come across in my entire life.

One thing I must mention in this review, there are no gods in this version of Ramayana. Each and every character is human. Rama is as much of a human as a normal court maid. There are no flying chariots, no 10 headed Ravana but one, no curses, no divine arrows, and Hanuman is a normal 50 year old person, who believes that he belongs to the clan of the Lord Hanuman. I must applaud the brilliance of the author here for keeping the Gods as gods and making this story that touches the nerve of his readers.

As the story progresses further, we get to read the normal tale of how Rama and Lakshmana accompanied sage Vishwamitra to kill couple of rakshasas and eventually reaching the Kingdom of King Janaka, the Mithila, and breaking the Shiva’s bow to win the bride Sita. But a little twist here from the author makes it even more human. The actual plot of breaking the bow, was a setup by the King Janaka who was under the impression that, if any prince would tie the bow string with their bare hands would win over Sita, so that, the actual birth details of Sita would be negligible, since she was won in a challenge!! It is just brilliant to have this thought. It makes us to ponder for a few minutes. The after events keep Rama in high regard. Dasharatha actually learns that Sita is not the biological daughter of Janaka and she was actually found in a land while tilling. He raises an objection to the marriage and decides to cancel the wedding. By the timely intervention of Rama, this was avoided and Rama marries Sita, so does his brothers and Sita’s younger sisters.

The plot carries further in a regular manner but with a humane touch. The promises that Dasharatha made to his 3^rd wife Kaikeyi has been written in an entirely different perspective which I am not going to include in this review. This must be savored from the book. One thing the readers must keep in mind that, Rama was a staunch follower of Dharma even in this version. He learns the ill motives of Kaikeyi and decides not to become Prince. As per Kaikeyi’s wishes, Rama prepares to leave Ayodhya to the exile for 14 years. The event after that takes an entirely different approach where the human nature of Rama, Lakshmana and Sita will begin to unfold.

Now the real story of how Sita tries to analyze Rama and Lakshmana and herself begins slowly. Soon she realizes that it is difficult to adjust to the forest life. Also, she learns that without Lakshmana’s assistance, she and Rama both wouldn’t have been survived in that forest. Rama was a recluse in the forest life. He was enjoying the nature with a least concern to check on his wife and her comforts.

The climax of the book will keep your mind occupied and haunts you like anything. Ravana will abduct Sita, but not by himself. He sends his troops across the sea border to bring Sita via boat. His men will do just that by tying Sita to a boat and rowing across the sea. Ravana abducts Sita for the sole intention of avenging his sister Surpanakhi who got insulted by Lakshmana. Surpanakhi instigates Ravana by narrating the events that took place when she confronted Rama and Lakshmana in the forest. She describes Sita as a beautiful lady and he should abduct her at any cost and rape her. Being a womanizer, Ravana was all prepared to get Sita to his city of Lanka. Once after the abduction, the scene was written in an entirely different fashion, where Sita confronts Ravana and asks him to win the battle over Rama. If he wins, then he can marry her. But Sita was all prepared to immolate herself if the unthinkable happens.

Once the battle was over, the real test for Sita begins when Rama doubted Sita’s chastity. He wasn’t sure whether Sita was raped by Rama or not (sic). Having spent more than a year in another man’s supervision, Rama doubted whether to take back Sita or not. This is an eye opener scene for the reader. When Sita questions the same thing to Rama about his chastity for spending more than a year away from her, Rama didn’t have any answers. Sita’s questions are a mirror test to the present society. Is chastity applicable only to women? Who made this rule? Won’t men also fall under this category? Why women are termed as spoiled when she was raped or abused? Why the same things do not apply to men? Are men not under the purview of rape? Won’t they get raped by women? All these questions of Sita hits the bulls eye to the present society that questions that chastity of a woman or term her as raped when it wasn’t her fault? Rama’s unwillingness to answer these questions denotes the situation of every man in the present society.

The final confrontation of Sita with her husband Rama was a true testimonial of how bad the decisions that Rama took against Sita. When she confronts Rama asking him about his conduct with sage Gautama, asking him to forgive his wife Ahalya when she committed adultery 25 years back, and why he can’t he do the same? When Rama can bow down before a low born woman Shabari and consider herself as his mother, why he went ahead and beheaded a low born man who was doing tapas and reciting Vedas? Rama’s reason was like low born persons shouldn’t do the tasks that belong to the higher born persons. What kind of Dharma he is following? For all these things, Rama was not able to answer anything.

Overall I believe that book showcases the patriarchal society of Rama’s era and why it hasn’t changed even a bit in the 21^st century today. Questioning a woman on her every move is still prevalent in the current society. Rama was no exception either. He just behaved the way he believed it was according to the Dharmic principles. He didn’t even shown the human side of him to the world. Though we revere and celebrate his life and keep him in high regard as the epitome of the justice, but how he wronged Sita will remain as a black mark on him till the earth survives. A must read book. You can go back to the earlier writing flavor of S.L. Bhyrappa. I would definitely rate this book beyond 5 stars and recommend it to every reader.

My Rating:

5/5

Book Review #103: Europe: Chained By History: What forces can break the chain? By Larry J. Hilton

Title: Europe: Chained By History: What forces can break the chain?

Author: Larry J. Hilton

Publishers: Newport Publishing

Genre: History/Non-Fiction

Pages: 344 (Paperback)

Source: Advanced review copy from Cadence Group

Having read many books on the history and especially on the European history, this book makes a unique read. It stands as a class apart. It doesn’t goad us with the facts and figures in a detailed manner which is painstaking to remember everything. This book will present its readers a riveting and vivid account of the history from a different perspective. The book encompasses the humane angle of the history from the medieval times till modern days. 

How does each phase of the history affect the common human beings like you and me? This very essence was captured in a brilliant way.

The book picks up really good with a note from the author in the preface of what led him to write this book. His love towards the history is evident in each chapter and the reference he quotes from different backgrounds adds a feel good factor while reading. In almost all chapters, the readers can see the references being made to the epic series of 11 volumes of western history "The Story of Civilization" by Will and Ariel Durant. We can also witness the author’s adoration towards the famous French poet, philosopher and playwright Voltaire and endorses his beliefs on the freedom of expression and social justice.

The central theme of the book is the capital of Austria, the Vienna. Starting from its historical background of how the present day Vienna got its name from the historical name of Vindobona which means “Fair Village or White Settlement” that originated from the historical beliefs from the Roman settlement of Celtic extraction. From there, the author takes us on a ride through the many kings and dynasties that ruled the Austria, especially the Habsburg dynasty and the king and queens that ruled for hundreds of years. The interesting account was of Maria Theresa, the only female ruler of the Habsburg dynasty, followed by her son Joseph II that ruled for just 10 years, but yet, made enough progress to abolish many things and bringing in new reforms that helped every sect of the society, especially the Jewish origins.

The more we dwell into the book, the more interesting it becomes. The chapters on the birth and rise of Adolf Hitler are a fascinating read. How Adolf does have his surname “Hitler” is an interesting tale. Adolf’s father, Alois Hitler was the illegitimate child of Maria Anna Schicklgruber; the Baptismal register didn’t show the name of the father, though Marina Anna knew who Alois’s father was. From there, Alois used his mother’s name as his surname. By late 1842, Maria Anna married Johann Georg Hiedler. Alois was infact brought up in the family of Hiedler’s brother Johann Nepomuk Hiedler. In 1876, Alois was legitimized and the baptismal register changed by a priest to register Johann Georg Heidler as Alois’s father has mistakenly changed his name to Georg Hitler. This was, Alios assumed the surname as “Hitler”. The chain followed ever after in the family, and thus we see Adolf Hitler. “Hitler” means the one who lives in a Hut.

Adolf Hitler’s regime was one of the brutal and inhumane phases of the modern Austrian history as recorded in this book. With a nil or deteriorating political backbone of the Austria and a growing strength of Adolf Hitler has left no option for the Austrians but to yield before Hitler. This came at the cost of no bullets. Hitler proudly records this event as “conquered without firing a single shot”. It is quite interesting to note that, Adolf Hitler’s childhood comprises of his friendship with Jews, his mother was treated till death by a Jewish doctor, and his stay in Vienna during his college days had made him to have many Jewish acquaintances and so on. His sudden change of behavior of hatred towards Jews has a long history of his reading habits and understanding the political world.

The book has many such fascinating and interesting tales from the history. One such example is the family of Klaar’s. Their tale of misery has no bounds. Also, the diary of a war widow Anna Eisenmenger will provide a vivid detail of the war and post war life, describing the events and the misery they had to endure. One should read these tales from the book to understand the complete picture of a common family during those times.

Overall, I feel this is an interesting book with the facts and figures covered from a different perspective. It is an easy read. The language used is simple and effective. It holds the readers till the end and it certainly becomes unstoppable. Larry J. Hilton has done a tremendous research to pen this book. I strongly recommend this book to be read by all.

My Rating:

5/5

Note: This book was given to me by “The Cadence Group” in exchange for an unbiased review.