Escape From Namka Chu: A Love Story Based On India-China War 1962

Madan M. Bhanot

The book Escape from Namka Chu is a laudable effort to redeem the unredeemed valour of the unsung warriors who smilingly embraced death, to see us smiling today, in the valley of Namka Chu, while fighting the Chinese in 1962. This is an epitome of love, compassion, devotion and commitment to the tenets of soldiering and equally as a beloved.

                                                                                        — Lieutenant General (Retired) M.G. Datar, VSM

Escape from Namka Chu is a unique presentation of the privations suffered by the soldiers and their families in service to our Great Country. The theme of redemption of unredeemed valour of the unsung heroes of Battle of Namka Chu, where they died like animals trapped in a cagen with no escape, is imitable and the author deserves kudos for this singular effort.

                                                                          — Major General (Retired) Deepak Mukherjee YSM, VSM

Book

This book is a fiction love story focussing on the privations suffered by the protagonists as a fall out of the India–China conflict of 1962. All characters and names are fictitious and imaginary and any semblance to the living or dead is purely incidental. It is not a true narration of the conflict, which is merely a means for the main protagonists to ride on till the conclusion of the story.

Author

Brigadier Madan Bhanot is a well-known writer of stories of the Indian Army’s warriors—both living and martyrs—from World War I till date.

He served for 32 years in uniform, graduating from the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington and the Higher Command Wing at the College of Combat, Mhow. He has the distinction of serving as the Brigade-Major of a mountain brigade in Arunachal Pradesh and Bhutan; GSO – 1 at the Military Operations Directorate, New Delhi; Colonel in-charge Administration of a division in Jammu and Kashmir and Directorate of Communication and Electronic Staff at the Cabinet Secretariat, Military Wing. He has been part of the Directing Staff at the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun and was selected as part of the Directing Staff at the Senior Command and Junior Command Wing at the Army War College and a Dean of Faculty at the Military College of Tele Communication Engineering. He has taken part in the 1962 War (in the former NEFA) and in the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak Wars.

Contents

Preface
Foreword
Prologue
Preamble
1. The Devout Soldier
2. The Soul Mate
3. Predicament
4. The Unredeemed Valour

Maps and Photographs

1. Map Showing the Areas of Interest
2. Map of Battle Area i
3. Aerial View of Battle Area of Namka Chu
4. Lake Tongpenla
5. Map of Battle Area of Namka Chu
6. Namka Chu Valley
7. Village Gompa At Bumla
8. Map of Namka Chu Valley
9. Namka Chu Valley
10. Map of the Battle Area of Namka Chu

Madan M. Bhanot