The Battle of Rezang La Archives - Penguin Random House India

Four things that India can learn from the battle of Rezang La

Posted on October 28, 2021 by kavyawahi

On 18 November 1962, the Charlie Company of the 13 Kumaon Battalion, Kumaon Regiment, fought a Chinese attack at Rezang La Pass in Ladakh, India. The company comprised 120 soldiers and was led by Maj. Shaitan Singh. Of these soldiers, 110 were martyred in the attack.

The Indian search party, which visited the battlefield on 10 February 1963, made a startling discovery-the frozen bodies of the men who had died were still holding guns in their hands, having taken bullets on their chests. The valour of the Charlie Company not only successfully stopped China’s advance, but it also resulted in the Chushul airport being saved, thereby preventing a possible Chinese occupation of the entire Ladakh region in 1962.

The battle, although rarely mentioned or recounted in books, has many lessons to offer to the willing listener. After all, those who do not learn from history, continue to repeat their mistakes.

The Battle of Rezang La || Kulpreet Yadav

1. A nation’s internal issues can quickly make it vulnerable to outside attack.

China attacked India on 20 October 1962. Six office bearers, who were holding the top positions of decision-making in New Delhi, were not present at their offices in the final few months before the attack. Who are these and where were they? Let’s start from the top. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru left New Delhi on 8 September 1962 to attend the Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ Conference and returned on 2 October 1962, but once again departed on 12 October 1962 for Colombo from where he returned only on 16 October 1962, i.e., just four days before the war. The defence minister, Krishna Menon, was in New York from 17 September 1962 to 30 September 1962 to attend the UN General Assembly meeting. Lt Gen. B.M. Kaul, the Chief of General Staff, was on holiday in Kashmir till 2 October 1962, and the Director of Military Operations (DMO), Brig. D.K. Palit, was away on a cruise on the naval aircraft carrier Vikrant. This underlines the government’s apathy towards nation’s security resulting from a complete intelligence failure.

Jawaharlal Nehru didn’t trust Krishna Menon when it came to China due to the latter’s leftist leanings and therefore, the prime minister had ordered certain matters to be brought up directly to him. Lt Gen. B.M. Kaul and Krishna Menon were not on talking terms as explained by Brig. D.K. Palit in his memoirs. Gen. P.N. Thapar was in awe of Lt Gen. B.M. Kaul due to the latter’s proximity to Jawaharlal Nehru, who was also related to Gen. Kaul. These interpersonal issues further compounded the organizational structure at the top.

2. A nation should proactively strengthen its security forces to prepare for any untoward strike on its sovereignty, while simultaneously aiming to resolve conflicts peacefully first.

It’s a well-known fact that Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru abhorred violence. But the fact that he allowed his personal choice to eclipse the security needs of the nation by downsizing the army after 1947 was the real reason why India had to face humiliation at the hands of the Chinese in 1962. Nehru was indeed one of the finest global leaders of the time and the principal architect of the nation that Indians even today owe a lot to, but his complete dislike for the army can be deduced from this anecdote from the biography of Maj. Gen. A.A. Rudra written by Maj. Gen. D.K. Palit: ‘Shortly after Independence, General (Robert) Lockhart as the army chief took a strategic plan to the prime minister, asking for a government directive on the defence policy. He came back to Jick’s (Rudra’s) office shell- shocked. When asked what happened, he replied, the PM took one look at my paper and blew his top. “Rubbish! Total rubbish!” he shouted. “We don’t need a defence plan. Our policy is ahimsa (non-violence). We foresee no military threats. Scrap the army! The police are good enough to meet our security needs.”

3. It’s critical for a nation to rightly gauge the enemy’s intention and the scope of their preparation in order to win the war.

The intensity of the shelling and the diversity of the weapons used by the Chinese were an indication of the determination to take the position at any cost. To destroy bunkers, they wheelbarrowed anti-tank guns to the flanks of our (Indian) positions and fired them massively. The four-feet-deep craters found in solid rock around company headquarters were a clear indication that they even used a certain number of big rockets. The shelling was indeed a spectacular display of the Chinese at night. An officer watched it from 4 miles away. ‘I saw missiles,’ he later said, ‘with flaming red tails falling on Rezang La. The spectacle was so weird, we thought the entire Rezang La was on fire.’ Another soldier at a post 4 miles south reported, ‘The explosions were so great that the walls of our cookhouse collapsed.’

4. A strong and dynamic intelligence unit is key to ensuring a nation-state’s welfare and safety.

On 21 October 1962, when an Indian transport aircraft flying over Ladakh reported a 2-mile-long column of Chinese military vehicles heading towards Chushul along the road from Rudok in Tibet, alarm bells started to ring in the army headquarters and the defence ministry. Until then, the Indian intelligence didn’t have any idea about the military build-up on the Chinese side of the Ladakh border. This was going to cost India heavily. The Indians were ignorant of the aggressive road-building activity of the Chinese that had connected all their border posts to their support bases in the deep. Due to this, the PLA’s mobility of troops, artillery and stores was swift. Compared to this, the Indians in Ladakh had just completed the road that connected Srinagar to Leh. A jeepable road that connected Leh with Chushul was also made weeks before the Chinese attacked India as we have seen before. All other thirty-six forward Indian posts were still connected by mule tracks, which took days to reach and had obvious load-carrying restrictions.

In The Battle of Rezang La, Kulpreet Yadav evocatively narrates the untold story of the soldiers of the Charlie Company who valiantly fought the Chinese till their last breath.

Tête-à-tête with Kulpreet Yadav

Posted on October 20, 2021October 20, 2021 by prhi-dev

Kulpreet Yadav’s The Battle of Rezang La documents the bravery, gallantry, and patriotism of the soldiers who fought for India in 1962 war. The soldiers chose to hold their ground to the end, despite the fearful odds, defending their nation. We got the opportunity to ask him a few questions. Here are excerpts from our conversation with him.

What inspired you to write about the battle of Rezang La?

The story of Rezang La is very popular in Haryana, particularly South Haryana, from where most of the soldiers who laid down their lives in the battle came from. I hail from that part of the country and since my childhood, I have been hearing about this brave last stand of the Indian soldiers. But, at school, at college, and later as an officer in uniform, I realised that no one had heard of this battle. Somehow, due to lack of information, these brave men who sacrificed their lives for the nation had remained heroes for only the people of the villages they belonged to. After writing a dozen books, around 3 years ago, I thought, I must bring this true story of valour before the nation. The Indians, particularly the youth of the country, need to know the story of Rezang La.

What kind of research did you undertake before writing the book and did you face any particular challenges during the process?

I found out the addresses of the 4 survivors from 13 Kumaon battalion. Then I drove down to meet them. Their personal accounts were as moving as they were informative. I then started to read all the available books on the 1962 war with China and there are quite a few. This took me more than a year. The next step was to read the articles in defence journals and web portals. These articles were written by either those who had participated in the 1962 war or had information about the Ladakh sector through their colleagues. I also accessed the newspaper articles from the period just preceding or during the war. The memoirs written by the officers who were involved in the war either at the headquarters or in the field, further added to my understanding of the battle.

I also visited the 13 Kumaon battalion headquarters a few times. Since the Rezang La museum is co-located with the battalion headquarters, it became a good resource for me. The CO’s team successfully located the old war diary and when I was shown this old, hand-written account of the battle, I could get a better grasp of some of the events. I also read the official MoD’s account online. I also met and spoke over the phone to some of the officers and family members of those who were directly involved in the battle. Finally, there were a few private researchers who had been collecting information about this battle for a long time and I’m grateful that they shared the information with me. I have thanked each person by name in the acknowledgement section of the book.

What kind of emotional trajectory did you go through while writing about such a painful period in history, where we lost so many of our soldiers to the war?

It was tough. Since two of the soldiers who sacrificed their lives were related to me, it was emotionally exhausting to relive their final moments. But reliving the battle was important to write honestly and authoritatively. I had to be strong and travel back in time to see all the events through my mind’s eye. As I expanded my research, it was easy to imagine the sequence of events. I also spent a lot of time thinking about the individual soldiers, their respective positions (section post / platoon post / command post / LMG det / mortar section / Listening post (LP) / Observation post (OP) etc.) in the battle and what they must have been thinking in their final moments. To appreciate their unimaginable courage better, I also researched about their families. All of this was disturbing, but it turned my resolve to write this book that much stronger. If earlier I was sad that Indians didn’t know about this true story, by the end of my research, I was mad about why the nation didn’t know about it. Now that the book has been written and it’s available for everyone to read, all I feel is the deepest respect for these soldiers.

In what ways did you find writing a book about war different from the other books you have written?

Every book is different and takes the writer on a different journey, both internally and externally. Comparing the genres would not be the right thing to do. Let me give you an example. When I wrote my first romance novel called “The Last Love Letter”, I was confident that I would not be able to write a book that has no antagonist. But, as I started to write, it helped me discover a part of me I didn’t understand that well. Whether we write a book or read a book, books have the power to change us. To answer the question specifically, this book was different because it required me to research a lot, so it took longer and every aspect needed to be double-checked for correctness before putting it down on paper.

What do you hope readers will take away from your book?

The readers would perhaps value freedom more after reading this and realise that they need to become better citizens. That would be the proper homage to these martyrs. And one doesn’t need to be in the army to serve the nation. Each one of us needs to do what is expected out of us — in our professions and at home — and that is enough. The bottom line is, these soldiers fought and died for our motherland because they loved her. We, the readers, need to dive deeper into ourselves and learn to love our motherland more, and respect the freedom we have. Last, but not least, I would request all the readers to travel to Chushul in Ladakh at some point in their lives and pay homage to the war martyrs at the memorial called the “Ahir Dham, Chushul” that’s maintained by 13 Kumaon there.

The Battle of Rezang La: Recalling the past

Posted on September 30, 2021 by kavyawahi

Here’s an excerpt from the book about the time when the speed of preparation of the bunkers and trenches in Rezang La gets a boost and the new recruits make up for the shortfall in manpower.

On 30 October 1962, the Charlie Company received a message that forty-seven new recruits had landed at Chushul airfield at ten in the morning on 29 October 1962 and that day, after they had been addressed by Lt Col H.S. Dhingra, they would be escorted to Rezang La…

The first person Maj. Shaitan Singh saw there was Naik Ram Kumar who was the section in-charge of the 3-inch mortar post located 140 yards behind the company headquarters on a downward slope. Ram Kumar was an exceptional soldier and the major trusted him completely even though Ram Kumar had been demoted from Havildar to Naik due to a recent incident related to convoy discipline.

Ram Kumar stopped working as he saw his commander approach, saluted him and cheerfully said, ‘Ram ram sahab.

Welcome back to the unit.’

‘Thank you, Ram Kumar. You must be missing kabaddi here.’

‘Yes, sir. Here, we are spending our energy only on building our defences. Kabaddi bahut khel liya.’

The major smiled and asked, ‘How’s Mishri devi? Got any letters from home?’

Mishri devi was the name of Ram Kumar’s wife who was back in his village Bahrampur in the Rewari district of Haryana.

‘Yes, sir. She is doing good.’

He patted Ram Kumar’s shoulder and said, ‘That’s good to know . . . ’

After a pause of a few seconds, in which the major looked around and acknowledged the Ram-Rams of others working in the vicinity, he continued, ‘Ram Kumar, let’s finish the laying exercise of the 3-inch mortar today.’

‘Yes, sir. Today, the visibility is good too.’

‘Yes, and that is why it is the right time for us to conduct the mortar survey. You come with me. The others in your section can go ahead with the fortification of the mortar post.’

Nk Ram Kumar laid down his tools and started to walk alongside the major. After a few steps, the major said, ‘So, how does it feel to become a naik once again from havildar? Anyone making fun of you?’

‘Sir, they still think I’m a havildar, because that’s what I think in my head.’

The major laughed, ‘You know what, among the officers too, we have a few who behave as if they are colonels even when they are actually majors. Such officers go very far, Ram Kumar.’

‘Are you one of them, sir?’

The major turned to look at Ram Kumar, a mysterious twinkle in his eyes, ‘What do you think?’

‘I’m not sure, but I’m sure of one thing, sir.’

‘And what is that?’

‘Since you are so calm and composed all the time, I’m sure you will become a general one day.’

Maj. Shaitan Singh laughed, ‘If I become a general, Ram Kumar, you will be a subedar major and I will get you to whichever place I’m posted.’

‘Thank you, sir.’

They walked in silence for a few minutes.

‘Ram Kumar, though you hold the rank of a naik now and the 3-inch commander should ideally be of havildar rank, I have still positioned you there. Do you know why?’

‘Because you trust me, sir.’

‘Exactly. I have seen you handling the 3-inch mortar . . . let’s do a proper survey today, find out the probable enemy approaches and range our mortar.’

‘Yes, sir.’

By now, they had crossed the platoon 9 position on the forward slope and stood looking east, in the direction the Ops had been reporting the enemy’s position. Both turned as they heard a sound right behind them. It was Naib Subedar Surja Ram.

‘Sahab, Ram Ram!’

‘Ram Ram, Surja sahab.’

‘Sahab, what’s the order?’

‘Surja sahab, Ram Kumar and I are here to identify enemy approaches and mark them. Where do you think they will come from?’

Surja scratched his chin and said, ‘Sahab, I think they will come in the night through the nullahs. Somewhere between three and four, early morning.’

Ram Kumar said, ‘Sahab, from what we have learned so far from the NEFA and Srijap attacks is that the Chinese use human waves.’

The major’s face was now taut with seriousness, ‘Yes, and one more thing, they use surprise as a strategy, like they had used in Korea.’

‘Sir, we will defeat every attack of the Chinese. They might have the numbers, but we have Dada Kishan ka ashirwad.’

‘Absolutely.’

They were quiet for a few seconds. Then the major asked, ‘Suggest a few names for the target positions, Ram Kumar.’

Ram Kumar replied, ‘Sir, let’s use the name of birds, like tota, maina, bulbul, kabutar, mor, chidiya wagarah.’

Read The Battle of Rezang La for a detailed account of the events of the 1962 war.

This fall’s book haul

Posted on September 1, 2021September 1, 2021 by malika

Yes, we have made it to September, said goodbye to ‘hot girl summer’ and prepared ourselves for the lazy season. But before you go asking people to wake you up when September ends, you have to see all the amazing book releases you’d miss if you chose the Sleeping Beauty life. Our latest literary haul has the potential to keep you occupied until next fall. If you take our advice into consideration, we’d suggest you settle down with a strong cup of your favourite caffeinated beverage instead, because you’re going to want to stay awake for this months reading recommendations.

September reads — The Elephant in the Womb||Kalki Koechlin

The Elephant in the Womb

Motherhood is the greatest job in the world…right?

In this unique graphic narrative, we finally have that candid, funny and relatable book on pregnancy and parenting that mothers, expectant mothers, and anyone even thinking about motherhood have been waiting for. Actor and writer Kalki Koechlin opens up about so much that we don’t talk about-the social stigma of abortions and unmarried pregnancies, the toll that pregnancy takes on a body, the unacknowledged domestic labour of women, the emotional rollercoaster of giving birth, bouts of postpartum melancholy, the unsolicited parenting advice from every corner, and of course the innumerable moments of joy and delight in bringing a real little person into this very weird world.

With whimsy and compassion, with uproariously funny art and spellbinding honesty, The Elephant in the Womb blends the deeply private with the blazingly political. It’s an eye-opener for anyone who has ever thought that pregnancy was all about the glow and that motherhood was all about fulfilment. From fixing broken parts to enduring untimely farts, Koechlin’s nuanced prose-gorgeously illustrated by Valeriya Polyanychko-tells us the bare-faced truth about the physiological discomfort and manic expectations that make it a bittersweet experience.

With a combination of personal essays and think-pieces, journal entries captured in real time, reflections and anecdotes, this is the motherload!

The Blind Matriarch

The blind matriarch, Matangi-Ma, lives on the topmost floor of an old house with many stories. From her eyrie, she hovers unseeingly over the lives of her family. Her long-time companion Lali is her emissary to the world. Her three children are by turn overprotective and dismissive of her. Her grandchildren are coming to terms with old secrets and growing pains. Life goes on this way until one day the world comes to a standstill-and they all begin to look inward.

This assured novel records the different registers in the complex inner life of an extended family. Like
the nation itself, the strict hierarchy of the joint-family home can be dysfunctional, and yet it is this home that often provides unexpected relief and succour to the vulnerable within its walls.

As certainties dissolve, endings lead to new beginnings. Structured with the warp of memory and the weft of conjoined lives, the narrative follows middle India, even as it records the struggles for individual growth, with successive generations trying to break out of the stranglehold of the all-encompassing Indian family.

Ebbing and flowing like the waves of a pandemic, the novel is a clear-eyed chronicle of the tragedies of India’s encounter with the Coronavirus, the cynicism and despair that accompanied it, and the resilience and strength of the human spirit.

On A Wing and a Prayer

What would you do if your life turned upside down overnight?

Witnessing the devastation of 9/11 before his eyes and narrowly escaping death, Kushal’s life was never going to be the same again. Suddenly, all his pursuits felt meaningless and he felt a void within him like he had never felt before-until one day, when he reluctantly decided to spend an afternoon with a spiritual master in New York City.

From being a Wall Street trader immersed in the material world to embarking on a quest to find answers to life’s biggest questions, Kushal Choksi writes about his doubts, struggles and revelations on a spiritual path as a left-brained sceptic.

On a Wing and a Prayer is one such (true) account of one man finding himself on a fifteen-year long journey shadowing the spiritual leader Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

The Lovers of Rampore

In The Lovers of Rampore, Ashok Chopra delves into the many mysterious forms of love thus introducing a mystic quality to the everyday lives of his characters. From the thrills of lust to the joys and fears of genuine commitment, to the exploration of desire and dispassion that exist in all relationships, this is the story of love in all its different manifestations.

Raja Rajvendra Veer Bahadur Singh married Rani Padmakshi Devi Singh, a woman thirty-three years younger to him, after losing his first wife. Theirs is a love built on respect, trust and the desire to support each other against all odds. In Rampore, their son, the dashing Yuvraj, is curiously averse to the very ideals his parents’ marriage embodies, choosing instead the path of instant gratification. In Mumbai, we’re introduced to Vikram Desai-an enigmatic architect whose principles, charm and persona change the course of all those whom he interacts with.

Ashok Chopra weaves a contemporary Bayeux tapestry of richly detailed stories which are mature, slow-burning and strum with a quiet passion that cuts across class, gender, and age, fundamentally altering the way we perceive love. In doing so, he also challenges society’s archaic understanding of the bonding between people.

10 Steps to the Boardroom

There is no linear path to reach the top. In today’s day and age, when there is so much competition and nepotism that is being spoken about, one has to wonder: Does talent and merit have a chance? In my opinion, they do. So how does one knock on the door of success and reach the boardroom?

This book takes you through the crucial ten steps you need to climb as you progress in your career to reach the top via the author’s own personal journey. Each chapter deals with one specific quality that a CEO is required to have and is accompanied with a worksheet next to it that will help you chart your growth. Peppered with wisdom and experience, each story will help you understand the implications of your decisions and the right career stage that one should look at making a move. An absolute must-have for anyone looking to make a mark in their corporate career.

The Battle of Rezang La

The Indian search party, which visited the battlefield on 10 February 1963, made a startling discovery-the frozen bodies of the men who had died were still holding guns in their hands, having taken bullets on their chests. One PVC (Param Vir Chakra), eight VCs (Vir Chakras), four SMs (Sena Medals) and one M-in-D (Mentioned-in-Dispatches) were awarded to the soldiers of the Charlie Company, making it one of the highest decorated companies of the Indian Army to this day. The valour of the Charlie Company not only successfully stopped China’s advance, but it also resulted in the Chushul airport being saved, thereby preventing a possible Chinese occupation of the entire Ladakh region in 1962. According to reports, a total of 1300 Chinese soldiers were killed trying to capture Rezang La. The Charlie Company was an all-Ahir company, and most of the soldiers who fought the battle at 18,000 feet came from the plains of Haryana. The Battle of Rezang La is their story.

Yogiplate: The Basics of Sattvik

Ayurvedic diet varies by body type, a person’s nature, their lifestyle and the food they grew up eating. Nobody knows that better than Radhavallabha Das, who cooked for thousands of devotees and monks at the ISKCON ashram in Mumbai and the adjoining Govinda’s restaurant.

In Yogiplate, he teaches us how to identify our unique body type, lists the vegetables, fruits, grains and spices that will suit us, and e xplains how sāttvic food nourishes the body, mind and inner soul. Written in a conversational style, Radhavallabha shows us how to pair the correct ingredients, avoid the ones that are harmful to us, and focus on the oil, salt and water that we use for cooking.

This book will teach you how to tailor a unique diet that will form the foundation of a happy and healthy life.

The Unforgiving City and Other Stories

From the Karnataka Sahitya Akademi winner Vasudhendra comes a powerful collection of stories that shock, move and amuse by turns. As the characters struggle to find their feet in a fast-changing India, they mirror our unspoken dilemmas, torn loyalties and the loss of innocence.

In the extremely popular ‘Red Parrot’, an innocuous image from childhood returns to haunt a man when he visits his idyllic hometown. In ‘Recession’, the desire for a child leads a couple down unexpected paths. In other stories, a young woman in love rethinks her future when buried family secrets are suddenly revealed; a boy learns that insomnia may be the symptom of something more ominous; lonely apartment residents discover the thrills and perils of social media.

Deftly crafted with gentle wit and a lightness of touch, each gripping story exposes the deepest contradictions of modern life. The fluid translation retains the flavour and nuances of the original Kannada, creating a rich reading experience.

Sita

Sita, the beloved princess of Mithila, is one of the most revered women in Indian history; so well known, yet probably the least understood. At every crossroad of her life, she chose acceptance and grace over self-pity. Her life was filled with sacrifice yet wherever she was, there was abundance. It was as if she was carved out of an intense longing for Rama, yet she had infinite patience. In every situation she reflected his light and he reflected her love.

In her, we find someone who is so divine yet so human.

In this poignant narration, Bhanumathi shows us the world through the eyes of Sita. We think what Sita thinks, we feel what she feels, and for these few special moments, we become a part of her. And perhaps, through this perspective, and Sita’s immortal story, we will discover the true strength of a woman.

Passionate about Baking: Everything Chocolate

A home baker for over 20 years, food stylist and photographer Deeba Rajpal put her passion to the test when she decided to blog about her adventures in the kitchen. Soon, her simple yet delectable dessert recipes accompanied by beautiful, evocative imagery struck a chord with people across the globe, turning her blog, Passionate about Baking, into one of the most popular blogs in the country.

Inspired by her blog, this book is a collection of some of her most loved chocolate dessert recipes for every kind of indulgence. With healthy, tasty yet easy-to-make chocolate delights — from tarts, tea cakes and cupcakes to cookies, traybakes and cakes for special occasions — and simple tips and tricks, Deeba shows you how working with chocolate can be oh so fun!

Good Genes Gone Bad

The field of biotechnology has evolved over the past four decades, developing medicines which are curing diseases. But this journey of success has been tough and arduous, built upon the shoulders of major failures.
Good Genes Gone Bad highlights seven such colossal failures in drug development-all of which culminated in the development of novel drugs-weaving together various analogies through the stories and thus allowing the reader to understand complex biological phenomena. These stories include treatment of medical conditions such as genetic clotting disorder (haemophilia), childhood-diarrhoea (rotavirus vaccine), preventing HIV infection, activation of the immune systems to treat cancer, gene therapy for treatment of diseases caused by gene-defects/mutations, cell therapy for treatment of leukaemias, and finally the success of Biocon’s approval of the first biologic drug for breast cancer.
Written by the former R&D head of Biocon, India’s largest pharmaceutical company, Good Genes Gone Bad is a fascinating look at the complex world of medicine and drug development, providing the readers with a sense of magnitude of challenges and the extent of difficulty that it takes to make novel medicines.

Economist Gandhi

The Political Economy of the Mahatma, Its Roots and Relevance.

This book is a refreshing take on Gandhi’s economic philosophy. It provides insights into the hidden facet of Gandhi’s personality, and his thoughts on economics and capitalism. The book captures aspects of Gandhi’s thinking usually missed by those who are sure they know Gandhi.

This is probably the first book on Gandhi that claims that Gandhi was not against business and capitalists. In fact, the author maintains that Gandhi was a Baniya by caste, and this is what explains Gandhi’s positive approach towards business, trade and wealth.

Kathmandu Dilemma

The first two decades of the new millennium have witnessed a dramatic socio-political transformation of Nepal. A violent Maoist insurgency ended peacefully, a new constitution abolished the monarchy and established a secular federal democratic republic. Nevertheless, political stability and a peace dividend have both remained
elusive. Nepal is also buffeted by changing geopolitics, including the US-China contestation for influence
and the uneasy relationship between India and China.

As a close neighbour, India has been deeply associated with the seminal changes in Nepal, and the bilateral relationship has seen many twists and turns. Partly a memoir, this book examines India’s perspective on these developments, in the context of the civilizational and economic underpinnings of the India-Nepal
relationship, as well as issues that continue to prevent this relationship from exploiting its full potential. Though there are several Nepalese accounts that deal with this subject, there are few from an Indian point of view. Kathmandu Dilemma fills this gap.

A Thousand Cuts: An Innocent

In 2010, T.J. Joseph, a professor of Malayalam at Newman College, Kerala, framed an innocuous question for an internal examination that changed his life forever. Following a trumped-up charge of blasphemy, members of a radical Islamist organization set upon him in public, viciously maiming him and chopping off his right hand. His memoir, told with amazing restraint and wry humour, is the moving tale of his life and family as they went through hell and beyond. Here’s the extraordinary story of a man who survived dismembering only to be betrayed by his
own Church. Let alone stand by him, it robbed him of his livelihood and isolated him from his community, driving Joseph’s long-suffering wife to melancholia and eventual suicide. Joseph’s story is one of fortitude, will power, forgiveness and compassion, told with rare wit that will make readers chuckle through their tears.
This is a tale that will leave the reader seething, weeping and smiling by turns.

Eternal Echoes

Beautifully designed, Eternal Echoes is a compilation of poems by Sadhguru between the time period of 1994 and 2021. These poems cover every aspect of his life and travels. There are poems on nature, environment, human nature, the experiences, and resonances he has felt during these three decades and many more. These poems seem simple at first. However, as one reads, one begins to understand the hidden layers within. The words and meanings linger on…

This book is a very special collector’s item for all the followers of Sadhguru that they can savour for years to come. It is also perfect as a gift to loved ones

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Tag: The Battle of Rezang La

Four things that India can learn from the battle of Rezang La

Tête-à-tête with Kulpreet Yadav

The Battle of Rezang La: Recalling the past