Chapter 31
The government of India is a venerable institution. As befits the government of such a large country, it takes its time going about its business, avoiding unseemly haste. But in this matter it moved with unwonted dispatch. The Chief of Army Staff, whom we have met earlier in this chronicle was summoned to a discussion by the Defence Minister. The message that had just arrived from the embassy in Beijing was shown to the General. Senior officials of the Ministry of External affairs were also present.
"So what do you think we should do in the matter, General. The message says we must act fast, or the American girl will probably be captured by the Chinese."
But before the General could answer, the Foreign Secretary butted in, "sorry to interrupt sir, but this is one case where we don't need to do anything. The girl is an American agent supported by the Tibetan underground. The whole mission has been conceived by the Americans'. It is for them to get into the act, if a rescue is to be organized. Why should we get involved and jeopardise the whole Sino-Indian relationship for some half-baked cloak and dagger stuff."
Then the General spoke. "With respect Minister, I disagree completely. I am only an old soldier, foreign policy is no part of my brief, but when our neighbour to the east continues to sit on a large chunk of Indian territory and is busy arming and subsidising our sworn enemies, I don't see why we should continue to treat her like a blessed mother-in-law. In this case what is involved is Tibet, and we obviously have a vital interest in the well-being of that country. The Chinese miss no opportunities of embarrassing us, why should we sit back and do nothing, if we have a chance to pay them back in the same coin."
But the Foreign Secretary stuck to his guns. "Sabre rattling and adventurism will not accomplish anything. We need patient diplomacy in this case."
"My dear Foreign Secretary," said the Defence Minister," I appreciate your concern. But two track diplomacy is now in fashion, so you will I hope give us room to play out this little drama. Only we must see that your ministry is not embarrassed in any way. Therefore we must be very discreet, very hush hush. Whom do you propose to assign for this job General?"
"Colonel P.P. Singh."
"A maverick. A dangerous and unstable man, a freethinker, prone to megalomania and flights of fancy. I think he would be most unsuitable for the job, if it has to be done. That at least is my information." Said the Foreign Secretary.
"The Foreign Secretary has a point, can't we find a more tractable officer for the job General." Said the Defence Minister.
"Not for this mission sir. The odds against success in this case are almost astronomical. I need a man who combines complete disregard for danger with a first class tactical brain. Not too many men like that. Besides. P.P. has made a deep study of the terrain on the other side. He knows the whole Tibetan plateau as thoroughly as any native. If any one can do the job, he can."
"All right, have it your own way. But remember one thing, in no case should the Government of India be brought into the picture at any stage. No one should be captured alive and no one should have any weapon or any other identification that can be traced to us.,,
"I understand that," said the old soldier grimly, as he saluted the Minister and walked out of his room with an extra stiffness to his ramrod back.
The wheels within wheels were set moving and the message finally reached Colonel P.P. Singh that he was to organize a rescue mission. He had carte blanche as far money and equipment was concerned. The only rider was, as before, that there was to be no direct involvement. No member of the Indian armed forces was to be used for the mission. No arms and ammunition traceable to India were to used. For the rest he could more or less do what he chose.
The Colonel twirled his splendid moustaches, and looked hard at the map of Tibet that hung on one wall of his room. He had about seven days in which to complete his mission. He considered his options. The main problem was getting into Tibet without being detected. The aerial route was ruled out this time. Chinese surveillance was at a peak. They had positioned unmanned reconnaissance vehicles over the borders and these airborne sentries kept watch over the entire airspace across the international boundary and the line of control. And even if the intruders managed to sneak in, without being seen by these devices, how were they to come out? He couldn't fly in rescue helicopters as the American had tried in their abortive mission to rescue the hostages in Iran in 78. But China wasn't Iran. It was a superpower that had the capability to detect any violation of its airspace and wipe out the intruder. No, air power was ruled out.
That left only the land route, but the land border was being watched even more closely. He knew that the Chinese side had intensified border patrols to a level never previously seen. ,This was the kind of red alert that was seen only in times of war. All the usual routes, not just the caravan routes and trading pathways that were marked on the maps but even goat trails were being watched. There was no way that he could sneak in a party of rescuers across the borders, get them undetected to the hostages and then bring the hostages without running into the ubiquitous soldiers of the People's Liberation Army.
Luckily he had one advantage over the Chinese. He had a better map of Thamba Dzong and its surroundings than the Chinese. This was a very old map, made on faded yellow paper with black ink. The Colonel opened the cardboard covers between which the map was folded like a book between its hard backed covers. "Where did you get this ancient map P.P.?" asked Brigadier Hukum Singh his old CO, who had come down from Delhi to help him out with the mission.
"This map sir, I got this from a friend in the Survey of India. There are only ten copies of this map now available, all of them in. the archives of the Survey of India at Dehradoon."
"But is it reliable. It looks more like a pirate's handmade map of a treasure island."
"You could say that. But it is absolutely reliable. It was made in the 1890's when the Great Game played between Russia and Great Britain was at its peak. As Tibet was closed to white men and foreigners, the. British trained their Indian staff in cartography and sent them into the most inhospitable reaches of Central Asia, as well as Tibet, dressed as pilgrims. These intrepid souls endured tremendous hardships in the course of their mission. They carried compasses hidden in prayer wheels and map-making paper and equipment in their walking sticks. They measured distances by their prayer beads and rosaries. They went where no man had ever been before. Many of them never came back, but those who did brought back a treasure-trove of cartographic knowledge that was later found to be almost completely accurate. Later measurements, carried out by sophisticated modern equipment have shown the error to be almost negligible."
"Remarkable!" said the Brigadier looking at the crumpled piece of paper with obvious fascination.
The Colonel looked at the map of Thamba Dzong intently. He noted the steep mountains to the north, whose contours were clearly marked on the map. He saw that the castle was admirably positioned to withstand attack. The mountains to the south and west were separated from the castle by the body of the lake. If someone mounted a frontal assault from that direction, he could not surprise the defenders. The defenders of the castle even had an escape route in the form of a steep ravine that ran down its eastern side. This ravine interested the Colonel more than the other geographical features. It was obviously formed by the waters of the lake gushing out through the declivity to plunge into the T sangpo river which was only about fifteen miles from the castle as the crow flies. But the map did not show any stream flowing through this ravine. That meant that the lake had dried up over the millennia and water no longer overflowed through the ravine in a torrent. All that was left now was a trickle.
The Brigadier saw the Colonel looking at the map with furrow of concentration between his brows. He could surmise that a plan was forming the mind of his friend. "Found something of interest in the map Colonel?"
"Its this canyon sir. Have you noticed how steep and narrow it is. A party of men with a Light machine gun, dug in, in this ravine can hold out against a whole battalion, unless they are attacked from the rear. The steepness and narrowness of ravine ensures that is safe from any attacks from the flanks or from above."
"Yes, I can see that, but how does it help us." Said,the Brigade Commander, flicking an imaginary fly from the sleeve of his jacket.
The Colonel continued as if he had not heard him. "Now consider another aspect of this ravine. It leads directly to the Tsangpo river. Do you see the significance of that sir?"
"Damned if I do."
"It would be possible for a party of men to approach the castle from the river via the ravine, thus avoiding detection by running into any Chinese army encampments, which according to the information supplied to us by our American friends are on the mountains to the south of the castle on the far side of the lake."
"Yes, now that you mention it, I can see the point of that. But then you have to get to the ravine first and how do you do that. You are not suggesting by any chance, are you, that we send out our mission by floating them. up the river into China."
"You've got it sir. That is precisely what I am going to do. The river is the only passage into Tibet which is still open. They can't close it even if they tried. This is a frontier that can't be blocked and it is the only frontier which is not under surveillance, for the -simple reason that it has never occurred to anybody that any intruder could come up the river from India into Tibet. The whole idea is, as you would say sir, preposterous. For this very reason it seems to me to be a good idea."
"Preposterous, by God! that is what this is. Why man, you talk of going up the Brhamputra as if you were punting down some sleepy backwater. Do you know the Brhamputra is one of the mightiest streams in Asia. Its full course is still uncharted and no one has ever been able to come down the river from Tibet, yet you talk of going up the river as if it were a bloody picnic. I tell you what you say is bull, pure bull."
"Hang on sir, you are jumping the gun. Please credit me with the fact that I do my homework before I come up with a plan. Take the Brhamputra, or the Tsangpo as the Tibetans call it. What you say is absolutely true of course. It is a mighty river, though in terms of length it is far behind the. Siberian and the Chinese rivers and in terms of discharge it isn't the number one by any means. No, but where it beats any river in the world is in the way it descends a full nine thousand feet within, the space of only about a hundred miles. No river in the world, certainly no major river falls so precipitously."
"Yet. P.P you talk of navigating the river."
"Well, the fact is the upper reaches of the river are navigable up to Lhasa and probably even further downstream a distance of at least four hundred miles from its headwaters near the Mansarovar lake. Of course, the problems start at Pei where the river turns north eastwards and begins to cut its way through the Himalayan massif. When the river strikes against the towering ramparts of Namche Barwa more than twenty five thousand feet high, it is forced to give up its headlong career to the east. The mighty river yields to the titanic mountain and turns abruptly southwards towards India. The upper Tsangpo gorge is the deepest canyon in the world, three times as deep as the Grand Canyon. Need I add that the Brahmputra is no Colorado, it is eight times bigger than the American river in terms of discharge at this point."
"I see that you have done your homework Colonel."
"Thank you sir, but I haven't finished. In fact I have just started. To continue. The upper Tsangpo gorge is not only virtually inaccessible to man or beast, it is also impassable. It contains innumerable rapids and cataracts and a waterfall, which is believed to be more than a hundred feet high. From the upper gorge to the lower gorge, a distance of more than fifty miles, the river continues to boil and churn through immeasurable chasms, and cataracts. Perhaps the best white water experts in the world might, just might, be able negotiate this stretch of the river, if they had the latest equipment and adequate back up. But even then they would have to go around the waterfall and the cataracts. And they would need plenty of luck. This being the case, even the idea of going, down river is little short of suicide, naturally the question of going up the Brahmputra gorges does not arise, unless we do the journey in a hot air balloon may be."
"So what happens to your scheme."
"All in good time sir." Colonel P.P. Singh walked to the window of the command hut and looked out upon the mountainscape before him. It was a beautiful sight. The sun was gilding the snowy tops of the various peaks around the valley, while the thick forest of stalwart trees, Himalayan cedars, cypresses, hemlocks and pines, that covered the valley and the mountain slopes up to the snow-line was in deep shadow. "Look at this forest sir. Isn't it beautiful."
"Indeed, it is"
"It is more than beautiful. It is useful. To a commando it means cover, a place to hide. Security from aerial attack and surveillance. You could hide a thousand men in this forest without any one being the wiser for it. Now sir, if you were planning to sneak into Tibet, wouldn't it be wise to choose some such site."
"Naturally, the trouble is Tibet is a wilderness, but a barren wilderness."
"That's not entirely correct sir. Tibet does have its forest, in fact a fairly thick forest. As it happens this forest is on both sides of the lower reaches of the Tsangpo. So while the river itself runs through an inaccessible canyon, miles below, the area around the canyon is thick forest. There is one more factor that I must mention that works in our favour."
"And what is that."
"The people who live in this uncharted wilderness. They are the Monpas, a forest dwelling people who are devout Buddhists. No one except them knows the trails that lead in and out of the forest. Only they know how to approach the river from .the top. The Tsangpo gorges are a holy site. One of the holiest sites in Tibet actually. So while the Monpas will be more than willing to lead us through the forest and the gorges, they would be loath to help the unbelieving Chinese through them. In fact the Monpas are often used by the Chinese to do forced labour on their road building programme and there is no love lost between the two sides."
"Where did you get this. piece of information Colonel?"
"Homework sir! Now for my plan. As is natural, the Chinese are not worried about anyone coming into Tibet up the river, knowing full well that such a thing is impossible. What they do therefore is to watch the river for traffic coming downstream, though even this is practically impossible. There is a short stretch downstream from the lower gorge which is navigable, but only the Monpas live there, and they have no incentive to leave their haven in Tibet and try to fly to India. The Chinese check post on the river is therefore set way back from the border, deep inside their territory. It is lightly manned. They have a searchlight which is turned on at night to light up the river. Apart from this small detachment there is nothing. What we do then is to go up river into Tibet, stopping well short of the checkpost, and then cut across to the north west through the forest in the direction of Pie."
"What are you going to do with your boats."
"We will carry them with us sir."
"Carry them with you! Why man it is almost a hundred miles through the forest to Pie. You would need an army of porters to carry them. A sure give away, if you ask me. And think of the time it would take."
"We would junk the engines when we leave the river. Without the engines an inflatable raft should be no trouble to carry."
"Junk the engines, Then why carry the boats at all."
"For the return journey, which will be down the river."
"You mean through the gorges and the waterfall and cataracts and all."
"You just said it was suicide."
"So I did sir, that is why the Chinese will never think of looking for us on the river. In case they come to know about us, as I suspect they will when we take out our men, the river will be our best chances of escape. Even if the Chinese get to know that we are going down the river, they would have to come after us using the same route. There is no other way they can get at us. We would be invisible from the air, protected by the icy ramparts of the Himalayas. Even ground troops trying to fire upon us from the top will be useless because of the depth of the canyon and its rugged nature. If they want to get us, they would have to come after us through the river, using the same method as us, braving the same dangers. Even if, by some freak of circumstance they do manage to come close, I think I can deal with them when I see them."
"Supposing the Chinese decide to take you on when the river emerges from the gorges. They would know that you are heading for the Indian border and try to cut you off at the penultimate stage. What do you do then?"
"I had thought of that. That is where our friends the Monpas come in. We plan to leave the river a little way short of the spot where it comes out of the gorge. The Monpas will then lead us through a secret trail to the border while the Chinese will keep waiting for us to come out of the gorge."
"And you think the border will be open for you so that you can just walk across. If you think that you don't know the Chinese. I tell you they will move heaven and earth to nab you. They will redouble their surveillance on the border. Don't underestimate them Colonel, the Chinese are smart and thorough. You will not find it easy to break through the border."
"In that case sir we will try out other options. The Chinese will be expecting us to cross the border west of the river, this is natural, because on the western side is the territory of India. But we could head in the other direction, to the south east and further into China. We could then make a detour and try to enter India from an unguarded point to the south east of the river. We could even go far enough to enter Burma, if it comes to that. After we enter Burma, it should be an easy matter to get back to India."
"Don't count on it. The Chinese have good penetration inside Burma. Especially with the Kachin rebels in the north who have been fighting the Burmese Army for years. They are armed and funded by the Chinese. So their long arm can reach out even into the jungles of north Burma, if they have to."
The Colonel opened a bottle of rum and poured out two stiff shots. Night had set in and moonlight slanted into the hut through the open window, falling on the amber liquid in the tumblers. The two men were silent for a while. Then the Colonel spoke again. "You and I have fought many battles together sir. Have we not."
"That we have."
"And yet when we went into battle we did not know that we would come out of it alive. But that didn't stop us from fighting like the devil-did it?"
"No it did not. We fought because that was our duty, our dharma in fact. We were soldiers after all and a soldier lives only to fight."
"Exactly. So it is here. I have made as good a plan as I can. I know I can't take care of all the imponderables, but that shouldn't stop us from giving it our best shot."
"Well, no, not if you put it that way."
"Then let us drink to the success of this expedition."
"Cheers."
