Two of the grandest and most applause-worthy projects that BJP government undertook during its tenure at the center were "The Golden Quadrilateral" and "The River Linking" projects. It is a different matter that the river linking project eventually just managed to gather dust in some official files. However, had BJP had its way, then this was bound to have major social and political ramifications in the country. There is one more aspect about the river linking project that is unnoticed by many. That is after Indian government took measures to do a feasibility study of the project, the Chinese government emabarked on an enormous project that humans can never easily imagine. This one was to divert the course of Brahmaputra river itself! How is that related to the river linking project, you may ask? Well, as per the plan, the Brahmaputra was supposed to be a major feeder for many rivers in the link. As simple as that! So by diverting Brahmaputra Chinese government would have ruined the river linking project at its very inception.
Anyway, the point I am trying to make here is not to do with River linking project, but I am trying to get your attention to the fact that one of the most cruicial aspects that India should very closely consider and monitor besides terrorism from across LoC, are the strategies and movements of Chinese in the Himalayan region. In fact recently Chinese completed building of a highway to link them with Kathmandu and termed it as a landmark achievement for bilateral trade between the two countries. Well that may indeed be true, but in times of war mobility in the below-freezing Himalayan terrains can actually be the difference between the winning and losing side.
This was the exact short-sightedness shown by Pt. Nehru and erstwhile Defence Minister Krishna Menon in the late 1950s and early 60s who kept on harping about Pakistan and the danger it poses to India while totally ignoring the requests as well as warnings by their very able Indian military staff about the impending Chinese attack. General Thimayya (popularly known as Timmy), in his valedictory speach in 1961 had said to his staff - "I hope I am not leaving you as a cannon fodder for the Chinese communists". He had been warning Krishna Menon and Nehru for a while but those were always ignored and seen as a prejudiced view of things.
Finally his words came true when Chinese started mounting the artillery in the trans Himalayan region. The author was requested by Indian army that the true story be a secret for at least 25 years and which is why the book never made it to publishers in 1960s else could have taken India by storm. Syd (the author as he is popularly referred to, in the book) set off on a mountaineering expedition in Himalayas in the late 50s. He did not have the faintest idea that what was in store for him would make him go through the epic adventure involving both the Indian and Chineese governments at their utmost strategic levels.
Syd is requested by an unknown Indian army personnel in New Delhi to spy for Indian military while on his climbing expedition. He is requested to keep an eye on the Chinese movement across the border and he agrees for the love of India, a country he so admired. It may come as a surprise to readers when it is mentioned in the book that forget worrying about the mounting military pressures from the Chinese side, the Indian governement had given very strict instructions to Indian military not to deploy any spy in the region as it may hurt Chinese and may go against the "Hindu-Cheeni Bhai Bhai" sentiment made popular by Nehru. He is also told that if the Indian government came to know about this spying project then not only would he run into major problems, all the officials involved would be stripped off their positions and court martialled! You will also read as to how skillfully Chinese managed to do all intelligence gathering by sending their personnel in the guise of civilians with full cooperation from Indian government.
Come and be a part of the adventure as Syd and his close friend went through it. With Chinese soldiers in pursuit, you will pass through some of the most breath-taking sites such as Mt Mailash, Lake Mansarovar, Gurla Mandhata, Taklakot, etc and some of the most life threatening moments. You will pass through regions where nature meets compassion - Tibet, the country colonially opressed for years by Chinese communist rule. You will also relive the horrors of a captured Indian soldier and imagine what kind of treatment must have been meted out to them by Chinese military if the worst that seems to exist is already meted out to a non-Indian Syd Wignall (a Britisher) when he is captured on the pretext of spying on behalf of Americans and slapped several weeks’ imprisonment in a rat-infested, freezing cell. You will understand the futility of all the efforts put in by Indian military to warn the Indian government of the lurking danger and their frustrations at not being able to drive sense through the higher-ups.
This is a true story of endurance, of the willingness to survive against the worst that could be thrown to anyone - be it by the snowy Himalayas or by the ice-cold human soldiers! This enthralling account of espionage, arrest by Chinese communists, and harrowing escape over a never-before-scaled Himalayan gorge is at once a thrilling real-life spy travelogue. It is laced with intrigue, close escapes from death, and vital information that if made use of by Indian government could have made huge differences to the fate of the war. In fact History may have been very different today!
Read this book and you will feel the pang of frustration building in you about how we have made so many stupid decisions and lost so many precious soldiers. Honestly speaking after reading this book, I realized the intensity of various patriotic songs that arose from our terribile defeat - such as Lataji’s rendition of "Aye Mere Watan Ke Logon".