the last few months in 1960 proved to be anti-climactic. The border remained quiet; there were no infringements. The alarms that had been raised in Parliament and the high drama around the Dalai Lama’s escape had begun to fade from public memory. The general belief, among both the civil and the military officers posted in NEFA at the time, was that the events of the past year were all a ploy to give China the bargaining chips it needed to get India to yield to its claim on Aksai Chin. In messes and clubs, people argued that after all Peking had accepted the demarcation of the watershed to
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