One Life is Not Enough

by K. Natwar Singh

In the UN, one got a good idea of which way the winds were blowing. Even the non-aligned countries, including Egypt, Indonesia and Ghana, did not openly support us. B.K. Nehru has claimed in Nice Guys Finish Second that Jawaharlal Nehru, late in 1962, had received a note from the Chief of the General Staff, Lt Gen. Verma in which he predicted a war with China. PM Nehru took no notice of Verma’s note. He actually said that he did not expect a war with China during his lifetime! PM Nehru had invested much in his China policy and, when it failed, he panicked for the first time in his life. His letters to President Kennedy asking for military help made even a hardcore Nehruite like me wince in embarrassment (see Appendix 1). What made matters worse was the American media, which relished sniping at Pandit Nehru and ridiculing him.