gorkha

Unfortunately in India, as also in other democracies of the world, the numerical strength of a community, which can easily be converted into a vote bank, is the most important factor in the government arriving at a decision about them. However, the beauty of Indian democracy is that there is also scope for forceful debate and argument. There is scope for the power of word against the power of the numbers. Gorkha: In Search of Identity will go a long way in providing that power of word to the community, which so far has been treated by the government no better than the trophies in the dinning halls of various military units.

A Gorkha soldier has always given the nation a cause for confidence. They have won five wars for us and participated in several internal operations to secure the Indian Nation. Unfortunately, the government has all these years followed the policy of not looking beyond the Khukhri and Topi into the hearth of a Gorkha home. These are the issues which have been very forcefully put forth by the author in this book.

Brigadier (Retd) CHANDER SINGH THAPA (B.1952) did his early schooling from St Joseph's Academy Dehradun and joined the prestigious Rashtriya Indian Military College in January 1964. A keen sportsman while at school he represented Uttar Pradesh at the National Games, winning a medal. Commissioned into the prestigious 70 Armoured Regiment in 1972, he attended Defence Services Staff College (Wellington), saw active service in Sri Lanka, commanded 48 Armoured Regiment and also commanded the oldest tank brigade of the Indian Army during the stand off with Pakistan after Kargil, in course of 34-year-long serv- ice. After hanging up spurs he picked up the challenge of wielding the quill along with the golf club living at his ancestral home in Dehradun with his wife Vibha. While his older son Uday has continued with the family tradition of soldiering (6th generation), younger Abhay has found life's calling elsewhere. A Gorkha, he has umbilical links with his community thanks to the tales told to him by his late mother Premlata Thapa and grand mother Saraswati Devi.