Spice of Life: Delivering happiness to soldiers at Walong
By digging trenches, my soldiers had violated a sacred piece of village land. To appease their tribal gods, the village required to make a human sacrifice!
In 1974, on promotion to the rank of Lt Col, I was assigned to take over a Sikh Light Infantry battalion which was in the process of moving from its peace station to Tezu in Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh, then called NEFA. It was an interesting journey. One travelled by broad gauge train up to Barauni and then by metre gauge to Tinsukia. Further travel involved a boat journey across the Brahmputra to Sadiya Ghat, a road journey to Digaru Nala, which most of the time had to be crossed on elephants, and yet another road journey to Tezu. The battalion headquarters was located in a jungle clearing called Shivaji Nagar, visited frequently by leopards and wild elephants at night.
On arrival at Tezu, we were tasked to take over posts at Walong (famous battleground of the 1962 India-China war), Kibithu and Dichu from Assam Rifles. The company at Walong was air maintained. The other two posts were 23km to the North on the Line of Actual Control (LAC). These posts were maintained by local porters. To reach Walong, one had to drive for 42km to Hayuliang roadhead and then walk for 98km over mountains, mostly along the fast-flowing Lohit river. As much of this track was unsuitable for mules/yaks, we had to carry all loads on our back. At Walong, we were told to take over three months’ stock of dry ration, mostly rice, which had been dropped for Gorkha troops of Assam Rifles.
Soon after taking over these posts, I started receiving reports of soldiers frequently developing stomach-ache. That was quite disturbing so I decided to visit Walong and forward posts along with our regimental medical officer (RMO).
The four days march beyond Hayuliang involved passing through Mishmi (local tribe) villages. The night halt would mean tactical deployment, including digging trenches. Early morning one day, we found our small camp surrounded by Mishmis from a nearby village. On enquiry, the village gaon burha (VGB) told me that by digging trenches, my soldiers had violated a sacred piece of village land. To appease their tribal gods, the village required to make a human sacrifice!
The villagers, all carrying large size dahs, looked at my soldiers menacingly. It was a tense situation. While I got into huddle with the VGB and some villagers, I told my escort party to keep weapons in ready position but not to point any in the villagers’ direction.
After several hours of discussion with the VGB, it was decided that instead of a human sacrifice, the villagers could satisfy their tribal gods if we paid for a dozen chickens and gave them bags of rice, salt, ghee and cigarettes. After bargaining over each quantity, we gave in to their demand. The RMO was a big sufferer. Being the only smoker in the party, he had to surrender his stock of cigarettes for the next two weeks.
On reaching our destination, I inspected the posts, including those on the LAC. The RMO looked at the water source and hygiene aspects of the Walong camp and saw patients who had been repeatedly complaining of stomach-ache. He felt there was nothing much wrong with them. I mentioned this to the senior JCO. The JCO said, “Sir, hor kuchh nahin, inha nun roz roz chawal nahin pachda (Sir, there is no problem, they cannot digest rice day after day).” I had no answer because we had been handed over only rice. There was no atta (wheat flour). The troops were required to consume this air-dropped ration for the next three months.
On my return to Tezu, I conveyed the rice/atta problem to the brigade HQ. There was no response. Two weeks later, I was informed that the general officer commanding (GOC) of the division will visit Walong and I should be there to receive him. Before rushing back to Walong, I told the logistic staff officer of the division that if my troops at Walong do not get atta, someone may complain about it to the GOC.
On the given day, the GOC arrived at Walong. I received him as he came out of the helicopter. Some distance away, the troops were sitting smartly, ready for the GOC’s Sainik Sammelan. As we started walking in that direction, suddenly I heard a loud ‘Bole so Nihal, Sat Sri Akal!’ That premature gesture took me by surprise. And then I looked back towards the helicopter and saw the crew unloading bags of atta, fresh vegetables, fruit and cases of rum.
In my service, I have never seen troops receive their senior officer so happily.
(The writer is a former chief of army staff based in Panchkula .)
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