From the Chinese Front

A soldier on his first field assignment - guarding the Arunachal Pradesh border - wrote in thus:

"Went on my first patrol mission with a group of more experienced men. Severe fog and snow; we strayed from the planned path and at sundown were lost in some desolate waste. One of the seniors said: "I am sure we have gotten into China. If we attract their attention, they will shoot. Better to quietly camp here overnight and find our way back tomorrow."

We pitched camp. The next day, we had to stay put due to bad weather. On the third dsy, it cleared up and we were somehow able to figure out our way back.

Back in 1962, when war broke out and the Chinese threatened to walk all over our brave but ill-equipped border troops, EMS, 'the high-priest of Desi Marxism' was said to have made a sagely remark: "The war is over some barren land which we claim as ours and they claim as theirs." Now in 2013, we don't claim some barren land as ours and wage war against them; instead, we claim some barren land as *theirs* and shit on it. And hopefully, they too are doing the same, in which case, our bilateral relations have indeed improved substantially over half a century.