The Great Call from China

Chinese mobile towers on the border are burning holes into the pockets of Indian soldiers deployed at forward bases! 

 

Most of the times when Indian soldiers at Nathu La in Sikkim dial homes their calls are routed through the Chinese mobile towers near the border making it an international call. And it happens very often as the Indian side does not have a mobile tower.

“It is a peculiar situation whenever we try calling home from Nathu La, the mobile catches signals from the nearby Chinese towers and our number goes for international roaming. Many a times we end up paying as much as Rs.130 for one call,” said a soldier ruing about the problem.

Even as the Indian soldiers’ attitude in this treacherous terrain is painted on the mountains with words like “Hum hi Jitenge! (Only we will win)”, what seems to be failing them is the lack of infrastructure development including the lack of telecom structures in the area, which was once part of the Silk Route.

The government has been aware of the problem in telecom connectivity but there has been no development on this front. Most of the telecom players in private sector have been concentrated in Sikkim’s capital Gangtok and nearby areas. The public-sector BSNL that is the major service provider near Nathu La has not been able to procure towers and telephone exchanges to be deployed in the region.

“Satellite phones are available in the units but their numbers are not proportionate with the strength of the troops,” an official added.

Earlier this year, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence had brought to light this poor connectivity and said that the jawans posted at Nathula were even forced to borrow handsets from their Chinese counterparts on the other side of the fence to stay in touch with their families.

At Nathu La only a dilapidated concertina wire serve as demarcation of border between the two countries that fought a brief but bloody war in 1962. On September 7, 1967, Chinese troops had opened fire on Indian troops at Nathu La as they were putting up the concertina wires, leading to a six-day border skirmish that saw an exchange of artillery fire.

Only woman officer in entire brigade guarding china front

By Mukesh Kaushik 

Nathu La (Indo-China border): In one of the most difficult Indian frontiers facing a formidable and assertive neighbour like China, she is the one and the only woman officer in the entire brigade at Nathu La, between India and China. She is the eyes and ears for hundreds of troops as provides them real time critical information.

Captain Swati Singh is posted in 63 Brigade of the Indian Army which is deployed in eastern sector in Sikkim near Nathu La pass overlooking China.   She is Signals incharge in the Brigade and her duty is to keep alive lines of communications for the troops posted in her area.

Captain Singh had chosen the military uniform over a very lucrative career in a multinational software company. “I was being offered a post of software engineer by Infosys, but in the meanwhile I cleared the exam of the services and without giving any second thought I opted for the later” she said proudly, in an interview to the correspondent.

She is the first generation military officer in her family of engineers. Her younger sister, an engineer like her, has opted for a private job in Larsen and Toubro. Captain Singh hails from Lucknow, a city of Nawabs from where she did her engineering in Babu Banarsi Das Institute of Technology. Her father, who works of the Central Water Board, inspired her to join the Indian Army, she said.

“I joined army two years ago and I was commissioned in 17^th Division in Sikkim. For the last one year I am in this brigade and despite being only woman officer I never felt alone or awkward here.” She said. Her Brigade Head Quarter is in Thegu near Nathu La and it takes at least five hours of bumpy motor ride to reach out to Gangtok. “Life is not easy in military but that is what I was fully aware of when I decided to join the army,” she said.

She adds, “Had I joined the Infosys, I may be serving in bustling and lively city like Bangalore but that would certainly not have given me the same kind of satisfaction I draw here while performing my duty in this inhospitable terrain.” Wishing that more and more girls should opt for joining Indian army she said, “Terrains or training may be difficult but our organisation is certainly very caring and friendly for the women officers.”   

(The correspondent was part of the official entourage of agency reporters taken to Nathu La as part of Independence Day Celebrations. Chinese Army officials had also joined the function.)

Exclusive- I-Day celebrations at Nathu La with Chinese Army

Mukesh Kaushik from United News of India was amongst the five national media taken to the Nathu La by the Indian Army to Nathu La to witness both countries observing the Independence Day of India.

Here is his first person account-

It was 3:30 early in the morning, when six of us were bundled into three olive green Maruti Gypsies with a 54 km long journey ahead of us. We were told a day before that it is not advisable to travel to Nathu la in the late evening as the road leading to the post is really narrow and in a very bad shape having deep gorges of 1000 to 2000 feet alongside. For good half an hour, these warnings proved to be hollow as the first stretch of 10 km was smooth and we were fast catching up on our lost sleep. After crossing “5 miles” - the place which came after 10 km of drive - there was literally no road left. It was completely off route, a road which was heading towards the Indo-China border post of Nathu La. It was virtually impossible for a non-four wheel drive vehicle to ply on this road. The rain and the ensuing landslides had aggravated the conditions of the roads.

Our vehicles were somehow wading through the boulders and every bump was rattling our bones. Being a defence correspondent I had been hearing about the infrastructure development in the north-east region, but this firsthand experience was underlining the fallacy of the claims.

In the meanwhile, sun had started to light the overcast cloud. After two hours of the back breaking ride our caravan of came to a halt. It was, we were told, "17 miles" - a military station where we were supposed to be having our breakfast.

Sleeplessness coupled with the bumpy ride had completely over shadowed our enthusiasm of becoming the proud witness of historic occasion of Independence Day celebration where Chinese PLA officers and their family members were invited for the first time in presence of both countries’ media. Border personnel meetings were regularly taking place every year on 15th May and 15th September, in China and India respectively. In an apparent attempt to clear the misconceptions amongst the general public and to further strengthen the confidence building measures, governments of the two Asian giants had decided to invite each others’ media to witness the national day events - 15 August on this side and 1st of Oct on China side, which is their national day. And it was our turn first. I from UNI, Anshuman Datta from PTI, Prafull Singh from Video News Agency ANI and Nandita Dagar with AIR representative Saubhagya Kar were racing against time to reach Nathu La, an ancient silk trade route on Indo China border post which was still more than 30 km away from the place where we were being served hot tea. When we moved from our first halt, it started to drizzle adding colours to the abundance of beauty floating outside and also adding to our woes as the non-existent roads were filled by mud. Vapours on the front screen made it impossible for our trained army driver to speed up the car.

It was 6:30 AM when we could manage to reach Changu Lake, still some 15 km away from Nathu La. Changu has changed since I last visited it 12 years ago. I remember that there was a small market at the left flank of the lake.  A small hut shaped café house has replaced it now having a sign board which claimed that the facility was built by the AWAA (Army Wives’ Welfare Association) for the benefit of soldiers passing from this difficult route. Changu was wearing a thin white sheet of clouds over it, as though she was trying to ward of the piercing morning rays of the sun.

We reached Nathu La at around 8 o'clock. It was completely changed. Ten years ago, a thin barbed wire loosely tied to equally dilapidated wooden poles divided the nations, who fought a brief but bloody war in the same sector in 1962. Five years after the war the ceasefire along this border was broken again as China opened fire on Indian soldiers trying to tighten the loose barbed wire. Since then the rusty wire has not been removed and kept on as a souvenir, as one officer put it.

The cafe house type of the Indian post with slanted tin roof was standing tall there in red colour and a three story “multipurpose building" right behind the Indian post which had come up in the past decade. A huge wooden gate, with dragon picture on its mast was separating the two countries and a red carpet was awaiting the PLA contingent with tri-colour and Chinese national flags fluttering all around. The post was bustling with activities while rehearsal of national anthem, parade and sitting arrangements were being given final touches. "How many of them are coming?" Commanding officer of the host unit Colonel Rajnish Singh was enquiring from his junior officer, who told him that Senior Colonel Wang Ji Ping, who has been travelling overnight from Yangtu, to take part in the ceremony is leading a forty member strong delegation. "Wives of some the officers are also insisting to come," the officer informed CO. He firmly said no to last minute additions. "Note down names of all the guests," he instructed in hush-hush tone to another officer who was well versed with the Chinese language. And like the curious neighbours, Chinese soldiers and officers were anxiously awaiting the ceremony to begin. They were armed with mobile phones, continuously capturing the jolly moods of Indians.

Sharp at 9, the gate was opened as PLA contingent marched in unison to Indian post. They were received by a Brigadier level officer of the Indian Army as the Chinese delegation was led by a Senior Colonel, a rank equivalent to a Brigadier in Indian army. Brigadier Ravi Jhaldiyal of 63 brigade, entrusted for the security of the area along China border gave a warm welcome to his Chinese counterpart, as he along with his delegation marched towards a podium where the national flags of the two nations were waiting to be unfurled with petals of roses, favourite flower of Pt Nehru, and a proponent of Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai slogan, tied to their ends. As the two top army officers unfurled their flags, a military band announced the beginning of the ceremony. After the national anthem of the two countries, the Chinese delegation was escorted to conference hall where the two sides held a customary border personnel meeting for few minutes. And thus began the real celebration for which both sides were preparing themselves, perhaps for quite a long time. Chinese girls wearing typical Indian Ghagras and choli danced on famous Bollywood number "desh mera rangila". To match it, the Indian army deployed its brigade Bhangra dancers which forced the chief guest and the chief host to come on the dance floor.

Cultural hungama culminated with exchanges of gift packs. Indian and Chinese men in uniform were seen hugging and clicking each other at time of saying good bye. They will now again be posted against on either side of the tranquil and peaceful border, without the guns in their hand off course.