India Today Books [Heroic Saga]

Thirty-five years ago, India suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of China's People's Liberation Army. Much has been written about this event: mea culpas, explanations, commentaries. In the public mind the events in Thang La ridge and Namka Chu were a humiliating calamity. Defeat, it was. Humiliating, it was not. The battle was a saga of heroism and sacrifice -- disaster struck only when the entire Fourth Division abandoned its positions at Se La. Maj-General Ashok Kalyan Verma's book brings the most detailed account of the battle till now, seen through the eyes of the companies of the 2nd Rajput Regiment. Of the 513 soldiers, 282 jawans and officers died on the opening day of the war, October 20. Verma has done signal service in providing excruciating details of an event that has been swept under the carpet.

But redemption came to the Rajputs in the battle for Bangladesh. Verma was part of this process as commander of 18th Rajput, whose capture of Akhaura and the dash across the Meghna laid the ground for the heliborne bypassing of Pakistani forces bottled up in Bhairab bazaar and to India's greatest military victory, the capture of Dhaka in 1971. It is no secret that orders were to liberate as much territory as possible in Bangladesh. It was 4 Corps commander Lt-General Sagat Singh's initiative in launching the attack in the direction of Ashuganj and then ordering the heliborne attack that changed things. This led to the fortuitous capture of Dhaka. As Verma shows from his account, the event was no cakewalk.

The book's value is in the great detail available, showing the sheer grit of the jawans and officers. It is also a contribution to military literature that helps us see the past a little more accurately. However, it has been marred somewhat by poor reproduction of pictures and the redundant last section.

AUTHORSPEAK: Achala Moulik

Bureaucrat as Novelist
The IAS officer's 13th book turns to familiar environs

By Devika Mehra

Her poise and composure are almost unnerving. Achala Moulik has a genteel manner, speaks precisely and makes conversation peppered with literary references. Her office at Karnataka Bhavan in Delhi, where she works as the resident commissioner, is pleasing and orderly. Look for tell-tale signs -- a writer's eccentric streak -- and you'll find none.

Moulik wrote her first novel The Conquerors after her son left for medical school. "I was at an utter loss. So I started writing with demonic energy." Two hours every day after she returned from work and all weekend. "Writing requires a lot of discipline," she says. "Forty per cent inspiration and 60 per cent hard work." Her discipline has obviously paid off. Her latest work, a romantic novel Earth is But a Star, a story of Count Manoel de Almeida's journey to India to recapture lost love, is her 12th book in a writing career which includes a critical assessment of Russian literature, books on Indian monuments, two novels (Camellias for Caroline and The Conquerors) and a study of the cultural history of Spain. But, even now, writing still remains a hobby for her.

Moulik grew up in Europe and the US where her father was posted on diplomatic assignments. At 22, after graduating from London University, she returned to India to appear for the IAS interview. "I was completely lost," she says. "It was like a new world. Therefore, I can visualise the Count's point of view when he was confronted by a new civilisation." In the more than three decades in the IAS, she has also been director-general of the Archaeological Survey of India and chairperson of the Bangalore Development Authority.

The idea for her novel emerged when she visited the ruins of Hampi in Karnataka and travelled to the west coast of India. "I was struck by their similarity to ancient Mediterranean cities." With her knowledge of European civilisations, Moulik adeptly captures the medieval setting of Spain and India and historical events (Vasco da Gama and Leonardo da Vinci are characters) that form the backdrop to her plot. But the author insists Earth is Not a Star is not a historical novel. "My novel is fundamentally about human behaviour. A sort of east-West encounter." The IAS officer's next venture is a modern novel -- different from her last three fictional works which were set in the past -- about a subject she is familiar with: the bureaucracy and the price one has to pay for success.

December 22, 1997