UGLY DIWALI-----DIWALI OF 1962--A SHORT STORY

It was around 9.45 AM in the morning. It was a bright
sunny morning of October 1962. At a height of 17000 feet,
above mean sea level, one got a splendid view of the
watershed.The scene from the NITI POST across the watershed
presented only waves and waves of hills right up to the
skyline. The soldiers of 9 PUNJAB had just arrived here two
days back with 100 rounds of ammunition each of .303 rifles.
All their pleas of celebrating DIWALI in the unit were turned
down by the Commanding Officer (CO) as the matter was urgent.
He had already delayed it by three days and just could not
entertain their plea of occupying the post after the festival
of lights. He had known the urgency.
Brigadier Dalvi, his commander had given a dead line for
establishment and occupation of an EARLY WARNING FORWARD POST
at NITI on the watershed, some 53 KMs North West of famous
‘TWANG MONASTERY’ in NEFA (Arunachal Pradesh).This monastery
is the second largest monastery after LHASA monastery in
Tibet. It is more than 1000 years old. The surroundings are
serene and beautiful.
An active, Sino-Indian rivalry had begun ever since DALAI
LAMA escaped to India from TIBET in 1959. The Chinese had
rejected the MAC MOHAN LINE, an imaginary line running along
the watershed, which was accepted as the border between India
and China in the Shimla agreement in 1920. Chinese government
had felt that 1920 Shimla pact was thrust upon China by an
OCCUPATION FORCE (BRITAIN) and it was not an agreement between
two sovereign countries. Therefore, they had resented Indian
presence in NEFA in the East and AKSAI CHIN in the West. Thus
they had been nibbling upon the Indian claimed territory both
in the West and East. It was to stop this nibbling act that
BHAG SINGH and his men were sent to establish NITI POST—some
150 KMs North West of BOMDILLA. They had to foot march the
distance through a very rugged and fissiparous terrain to
reach the place 23 kms ahead of LUMLA post. These men of 9
PUNJAB had been in the place just two days ahead of DIWALI.
Sure, it was DIWALI, that day. The team of ten men was led
by Havildar Bhag Singh,actually a Naik but specially promoted
for his volunteering to lead this team, with Lance Naik Kushal
Singh as his second in command. They had all volunteered to do
this task.While they were all brave hearts,their equipment and
the weapons were a joke, as the events later turned out to be.
Who cheated them, we don’t know? Was it the fate? Or was it
the army? Could it be the nation?

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On this fateful day, Lance Naik Kushal Singh was deeply
engrossed in his memories of last few days. He was married
just 10 days back when he got the recall letter to rejoin
duty at the earliest. It was just seven days before DIWALI
that he had left his home to join the unit. He had hardly
seen the face of his wife but the glimpses were stuck in his
brain.It was around 10 AM when a high-pitched voice screaming out of a loud speaker shook him out of his memories.
It said, “HAM HINDI-CHINI BHAI- BHAI—YEH JAGAH HAMAARA—TUM
YAHAN SE CHALE JAYO—NAHI HAM TUMKO MAAR DEGA (WE,INDIANS and
CHINESE, ARE BROTHERS. This is our territory. You better vacate this land,
otherwise we will kill you.)”
Havildar Bhag Singh shouted, “SAALE ‘HARAAMI’ ‘KUTTO’AAYO--
-AA JAYO AJJ ASIN BHI DIWALI MANAANI HAI. BADA MAZAA AAYEGA
ASLI PATAAKHE CHALAWANGE TE ASLI GOLI CHALEGI.”(You bastards!
You Dogs!! COME, WE HAVE TO CELEBERATE OUR ‘DIWALI’, TODAY.
IT WILL BE A GREAT FUN, AS REAL CRACKERS WILL BE BURST AND WE
WILL HAVE ‘LIVE’ FIRE WORKS)”
Every half an hour Chinese repeated their same announcements. And every time Bhag Singh and his men sang out
in a chorus, “AA JAYO ‘SAALIYO’, ASSIN BHI AJJ APNI DIWALI
MANAANI HAI.(COME, YOU BASTARDS! WE, TOO, HAVE TO CELEBRATE
OUR DIWALI.)
Then, after every round the Section Commander,Havildar Bhag
Singh, would tell his men,“VEKHIYA, KINNHE KHUSH-KISMAT HAI
ASSIN, KI RABB NE SAANU KINNHA CHANGA MAUKA DITTA HAI ASLI
DIWALI MANAUN DA. INHA SAALIYAAN NU BHUNN KE RAKH DEVANGE, JE
AAYE. (SEE, HOW LUCKY WE ARE TO GET THIS REAL GOOD OPPRTUNITY
FROM THE GOD TO CELEBRATE TRUE DIWALI,TODAY. WE WILL ROAST
THESE BASTARDS, IF THEY COME.)
This process continued till 5 PM when it had got dark. As
they had been here only for 2-3 days, Havildar Bhag Singh had
not got their regular maintenance rations from the unit. They
were self contained for 96 hours. They did not have proper
clothing for the high altitude weather or any medicines for
high altitude sickness. It was extremely chilly at night.
Most of the men were down with cold and cough. Some had
breathing problems.The worst point was that they had moved to
this height before any acclimatization. Despite all this they
had their morale very high.
Generally, in the mountaineering parlance if you go above
9000 feet one has to acclimatize at every addition of 3000
feet. In those days there was no such concept.Every one
thought that PUNJABIS were a TOUGH and STURDY lot and they
didn’t need such silly formalities. This was the main reason
when BRIGADIER DALVI selected 9 PUNJAB to not only STALL the
Chinese spread on the watershed in NEFA but also use them
later to EVICT them as ordered by his Corps Commander,
Lt General BM Kaul—a special Nehru appointee to evict the
Chinese.
BM Kaul was an officer from the ARMY SUPPLY CORPS(ASC)who
knew more about concluding contracts for supplies in the army
than ‘combat soldiering’ or tactics and strategy. So,like a
‘post office’ he had passed on the ‘NEHRUVIAN-KRISHNA MENON’
orders to his subordinates to ‘EVICT THE CHINESE’. No one knew
the ground realities other than the men like Havildar Bhag
Singh and Lance Naik Kushal Singh who were all charged up
despite these handicaps. Consequently, this section of
Havildar BHAG SINGH was dispatched post haste without any
real back up and proper equipment clothing.These men were
chosen as real sacrificial goats because when they needed the
much promised help, it never came. The false gods had failed
their men.

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At about 1915 hours, Sepoy Partap Singh complained of
breathlessness. Havildar Bhag Singh asked him to take two
large pegs of rum and relax. He did but did not improve. By
about 2053 hours he had stopped breathing. His pulse had
stopped.He was dead.Havildar Bhag Singh and Lance Naik Kushal
Singh had just moved his body to one side of the tent,when
Sepoy Nirmal Singh reported some noise some three hundred
meters away. It was moon lit night and Havildar Bhag Singh was
sure it were the Chinese. He shouted to his men, “AA GAYE NE
KUTTE---SAARE APNE TRENCHES VICH JAYO---FIRE MERE KEHNE TE
KARNA.(THE DOGS HAVE COME. EVERYONE MOVE TO HIS TRENCH. FIRE
ON MY ORDERS.)”

The .303 rifles of his section opened up and they had pot
shots on the leading Chinese soldiers.The DIWALI CELEBERATIONS
had begun."It is going to be a unique DIWALIof the year 1962"
So, Bhag Singh had thought.
“Hold your fire”, he had shouted after five minutes. “Report
ammunition expenditure”, he had repeated in the same breath.
He soon realized each one had fired some 15-20 rounds of
ammunition. He knew he had to preserve his ammunition for the
final assault by the Chinese. There was pin drop silence on
the enemy side. Twenty minutes later, some Chinese were seen
on the left flank. He ordered fire. Again, some 15-20 rounds
per man had been expended.
Exactly half an hour later, a third column of Chinese
appeared on the right hand side. They were supported by mortar
fire. The mortar shells were landing on the post. It
was a stronger column and the firing continued intermittently
for 15-20 minutes. Some Chinese had almost come on to the post
.And in their bid to evict them, Santokh Singh,Suchitar Sigh
and Vinod Kumar had lost their lives. Thus, by 2200 hours,
they had lost four men and expended some 60-65 rounds each.
Sepoy Neki Ram was badly sick. He had high fever and lying
like a dead body. Therefore, they were only five effective
men. But, still, they held on to the fort.
There was total silence between 2200 hours and 0200 hours
in the night. They kept waiting for the final assault.Havildar
Bhag Singh was determined to fight till the last man last
round. He suddenly thought of something else. At about 0130
hours he collected other colleagues and told them,“Those of
you, who want to save their lives, can leave now. I will stay
and fight. But in case all of you stay with me then, we must
decide about one man,who should escape when only two fighting
men are left”.Everyone refused to desert him. They said in a
chorus, “ASSIN ITHE HI RAHANGE. ASSI MARANGE TE JIVANGE
IKATTHE. ASSIN EH HI KASAM KHAADDHI SI.(We will hang on.
We will live and die together. This is the vow we had taken
together.)”
But Bhag Singh had made his decision. He said to Lance Naik
Kushal Singh, “Tera nawan nawan viyah hoyaa hai. Tu bhajenga.
Tainu saadi khatir jaana hi pavega---Nahi duniya nun kaun
dasega ki assin 1962 di diwali kis tarah manaayi si. Mauka
milya taan saade ‘baal-vachyan’ nun mil ke kahani sunanaa.
(You are newly married. You have to get away from here---Also,
otherwise who will tell the rest of the world as to HOW DID
WE CELEBRATE THE DIWALI IN THE YEAR 1962? If you get an
opportunity you also must tell this storyto our children.)”
Lance Naik Kushal Singh protested but he was over ruled by
four others.
Exactly at 0210 hours, a fresh Chinese attack began from
the front. It was a major force.Havildar Bhag Singh shouted
at Lance Naik Kushal Singh, “Kushal, Mitra, huNH tu Chale ja.
(Kushal, my friend! Now you leave.)” Kushal resisted but he
was not listened to by the other four. Sepoy Neki Ram who was
lying sick with high temperature, murmured to Lance Naik,
“Kushal, Je Tu nahi gay ate main apne aap nu GOLI MAAR
LEVANGA. Meri rifle mainu de devo, USTAAD JI. (Kushal, if you
don’t go I will shoot myself. Give my rifle to me,Sir”
The assault by the Chinese had begun. There was rapid mortar
fire. Reluctantly Kushal Singh ran down the slopes and he was
running for two hours, till he hit ‘Zimithang’ village.It was
almost 4 .15 AM in the morning. He saw shadowy figures roaming
near the village gate. He got suspicious. As he got closer he
realized they were Chinese soldiers. He ran back and climbed
on to the hill. As he was climbing along a stiff gradient, he
slipped and fell down some 40 feet. He had become unconscious.

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Months,days and years passed.It was winter of 1987. Indian
army had adopted ‘forward posture’ on the Chinese border as
part of the 'DISUASIVE STRATEGY' of General Sundarji,then
Chief of army staff.Army had employed some porters from
Zimithang village. Tholma Apang,some 49 years old person, was
also one of the porters. One day while carrying water
jerricane on his back, Tholma slipped and fell unconscious.
When he regained his consciousness, he was totally shaken. He
came back home and told his wife and children that he would go
out for some days to Bomdilla.His mission was entirely
different.

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When Tholma Apang reached Jalandhar Cantt, he got down from
the train. He realized how different Punjab was from
Arunachal Pradesh. He caught the bus for Village Balachaur
of Hoshiarpur district---the village of lance Naik Kushal
Singh of 9 PUNJAB. He straight away went to the house of
Bishan Singh—father of Kushal. When he reached he was told
that Sh.Bishan Singh had died some years back. He enquired
about Kushal’s wife. But Raj Bahadur’s wife (Kushal’s
youngest brother) told him that she had gone away to her
parents,after a few years. But some villagers told him that
she was thrown out by Raj Bahadur to grab the property. She
was living penniless in her parental village. He went to her
village "Thane" in "Kharar" Tehsil of "Ropar" district of
Punjab. He was late by two days. She had committed suicide
as her brother had also thrown her out of the house. Tholma
Apang was disappointed and wanted to return to his village
in Zimithang.

But before doing so, he went to the house of Havildar Bhag
Singh in Nakodar. After introducing himself as THOLMA APANG,
who had known Havildar Bhag Singh as a porter at Niti Post in
1962, he started narrating the story of valour of Havildar
Bhag Singh to his family.He was oblivious of the fact that
an old man was keenly listening to his story. As he finished
the story,of the DIWALI CELEBRATIONS of 1962,an old man of 60
years came in front of him. The old man said, “Kushal, you
have taken 25 years to come and narrate this story.”

Tholma Apang was stunned. He looked up; he found Havildar Bhag Singh in front of him. There were tears in Kushal's eyes. He narrated his story—how he had fell unconscious ---how he had lost his memory and how he was saved by a villager of Zimithang---whose name he had adopted along with his wife and children after real Tholma had died some years back. He also told him as to how he had regained his memory a few months back. Havildar Bhag Singh told him that all four of them were taken as prisoners. Neki ram was killed by the Chinese because he could not walk. They were tortured for months. Other three too, had died while in captivity and were given extreme physical torture. Somehow, Bhag Singh survived. Finally, he returned to India in 1963 after months of Chinese captivity.

Bhag Singh had retired as an Honorary Captain in 1975.Bhag
Singh advised Kushal to go back to his village–Balachaur and
claim his property to sort out his youngest brother who had
maltreated his WIFE, though of only few days. Kushal said
something and moved out of Bhag Singh’s house. He did not go
anywhere—neither to Balachaur nor to Zimithang. No one knows
where did he disappear? Bhag Singh tried to find him out but
he could not.Thereafter, Bhag Singh never celebrated any
DIWALI. He is over 81 today and it has been 21 years; No
lamps are lighted on DIWALI day in the house of BHAG SINGH.