Valleys and Valour

  THE VICTOR OF INDIA CHINA STANDOFF 2020   “ In today’s highly factitious domestic polity of democratic countries, geopolitical stance of a country is no longer a matter of purely national interests, but is quite often modulated to suit perceived domestic political payoffs .”     My write up “Afghanistan A Chinese Hot Potato”, generated an interesting discussion amongst a section of viewers leading to a query as to the real victor of the 2020 India-China standoff. I found the query highly pertinent not only from the geopolitical standpoint but also the internal political dynamics of both the countries. However there is no definitive answer, not even in the two aforesaid countries, as the debate is difficult to be approached dispassionately, being viewed more often than not from the prism of political or geopolitical bloc loyalty. Even within the US and NATO countries the stance adopted by them during the standoff is subjective to the political dynamics of respective country. It’s clos

  AFGHANISTAN A CHINESE HOT POTATO   “ The year 2022, the Year of the Water Tiger, in the Chinese Zodiac is credited with powerful action on the water and harbinger of poor luck from the direction of South West, the very two areas where it is currently involved in its two major geopolitical faceoffs – with the US and its allies in the turbulent waters of South China Sea (SCS) and Taiwan, and with India to its South West. To add to the psychological woes emanating from its own Zodiac lore, Afghanistan the hot potato its left holding, and the energy rich West Asia, the perceived panacea to its energy woes, also lie to its South West !”   Backdrop Chinese leadership has all the reasons to look at 2022 with apprehension and uncertainty, with attendant potential of inviting the ignominy of an internally enforced regime change. In the economic field, Government debt is at an all-time high, its private sector which employs 80% of its total workforce and accounts for 60% of its GDP is straitja

                                                1971 WAR IN THE EASTERN SECTOR   ‘A Leader is best when people barely know he exists. Not so good when people obey and acclaim him. Worse when they despise him. But of a good Leader, who talks little, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say, “We did this ourselves” .’ - 'The Way of Life', Lao Tzu   If any maxim were to apply to India’s victory in the Eastern sector during the 1971 War with Pakistan, then above should be the one! Mrs Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister, had a plethora of advisors from all fields, diplomatic, political, economic, intelligence, military et al. It also needs no gainsaying that the Prime Minister was presented with multitude of policy options, and none of them were easy ones. With US, a superpower, and China, an inimical and powerful neighbour, supporting Pakistan, exercising the option of forcing a military decision was an extraordinary one. Setting the geopolitical stag

  TRAVELOGUE OF A SPIRITUAL JOURNEY Lucknow – Ayodhya – Prayagraj – Varanasi – Mathura   “To tread the path on a never ending journey, willingly seek to submerge self with nature; To understand coincidence as bounty of nature, willingly embrace the unknown in nature; To realise the secrets of the unknown, know that it’s being one with nature.” -           Veteran Col RS Sidhu   My quest to seek greater understanding of provenance of the occult phenomenon on the battlefield, convinced me to undertake a spiritual journey to the known spiritual abodes of Varanasi, Prayagraj, Ayodhya and Mathura. That this goal coincided with the deep desire of my spouse to pay obeisance at these centers of spirituality, eased the decision matrix.   We decided to drive down from Dehra Dun in our tried and tested Volkswagen Vento, as we wanted to keep our itinerary relatively flexible. This facilitated us to mould our journey to go with the flow, and the long drives gave us ample time to share our indiv