The Tea At Jaswantgarh

With the travelling genes running rampant, I along with my family decided to head for the picturesque locales of Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh. 

We drove from Guwahati to Bomdila,

and the next day to Tawang. Our first halt was at Baisakhi. An Army post where u can get snacks like Dosa, vacancies, Maggi and samosa, cooked by our very own jawans. Piping hot tea and coffee were also available. A necessary stop as it gives the body time to adjust to the altitude. 

Nourished body and soul, we head towards Sela Pass. It is at an altitude of 13,700 feet. Fresh snowfall meant that the roads were slippery and wet. Slowly and steadily, we crawled towards Jaswantgarh, a memorial dedicated by the Indian Army.

There are two stories floating around this memorial. According to the Army, when the Chinese began attacking India in 1962, Rifleman Jaswant Singh, along with 2 officers, volunteered to capture an automatic machine gun. The 300 bullet a round gun, had almost wiped out the Indian Army. With fresh troops yet to make their way through the treacherous path, the heroics of Jaswant and his colleagues who captured the gun and therefore won that battle for us, made the Army name this place, Jaswantgarh.

However, the folklore has a somewhat different tale. The story is that the Indian troops were wiped out and with heavy snowfall, the troops found it tough to reach the battlefield. So for 3 days, Rifleman Jaswant Singh alongwith 2 local Arunachali sisters, Nura and Sela, fought the Chinese army with stealth and guile for 3 days, until troops could reach. The Chinese finally caught Jaswant Singh and beheaded him, and actually carried his severed head to show their Army Chiefs that it was the guile of one Indian that had prevented the Chinese army from entering Assam. 

The two girls committed suicide as they did not want to be tortured and killed. The battle has been named Battle of Nura while the pass was renamed Sela Pass, in tribute to these two courageous sisters. 

The significance of this battle is that the Indian army thereafter, was successful in pushing the Chinese back into China and reclaiming Arunachal Pradesh. 

As a tribute to the martyrs, a memorial by the Army has been installed and hot tea is served to everybody who drops in, by the Army. 

I really did not ponder much about what is folklore and what is factual, rather on the courage of our Indian brethren who laid their lives for our today. And it burns when anybody with eastern features are called Chinky. This is so unfair... India is about the Battle of Nura where a Garhwali took the help of Arunachalis to save our motherland... An Indian helping a fellow Indian

I was humbled by the efforts of the Indian army and their sacrifices, when I sat with the Maratha Regiment and they asked me about Mumbai, the new BJP government and how they miss their vada pavs.

The tea at Jaswantgarh, woke up a slumbering patriotic nerve in me. They proudly believe, " For your tomorrow, I sacrifice my today." Jai Hind, my brave Jawans. I salute you.