IN THE SHADOW OF SPITUK GOMPA

By Kapil Aggarwal

Introduction

This is a brief personal-life story narrated by Kapil Aggarwal. It makes interesting reading, because all of us can identify ourselves with the incident. The author is haunted by its memory even today, when twenty-five years have elapsed since then. He has invited the readers’ comments. So, if you have a few minutes to spare, do share your views on the subject. I have recorded my views at the end of the story.
Lt Gen Kapil Aggarwal, AVSM,SM,VSM is a familiar name in the Army. He held several high profile appointments both in India and abroad during the four decades of his service. He is best known for having been the Chairman of the last Pay Commission Cell of the Army, and retired as the DGEME in June 2019

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Foreword by Joseph Thomas

Spituk (or Spitok) Gompa was built about 550 years ago although one temple, dedicated to Mahakala, was built about 900 years ago. Mahakala is the Buddhist name for Goddess Kali who is included in the Buddhist pantheon of gods. The images of Mahakala and the Six-Armed form of Mahakala are carved from black stone and are very old. The statue of Mahakala has the face covered all year but displayed to the public for one day during Spituk’s festival.
The Spitok gompa contains both old temples and those built in the 1970s. Ancient thankhas are preserved here, some having been moved from the Potala Palace and Lhasa after the Chinese invaded.
The name Spitok is probably derived from the Central Tibetan language and means “Effective as an Example”, referring to the fact that this was the Tibetans’ first monastery in Ladakh. The head lama of Spitok is also the head Lama for Ladakh.
The head Lama of Spitok during my tenure in Leh was the 19th Kushok Bakula Rinpoche (19 May 1918 – 4 November 2003) He was mainly known for his efforts in reviving Buddhism in Mongolia and Russia by linking them with the community of Tibetan exiles in India.
He was born in the Matho branch of the Royal House of Ladakh. He was recognised by the Thirteenth Dalai Lama as a reincarnation of Bakula Arhat, one of the Sixteen Arhats who in legend were direct disciples of Gautama Buddha. He was a direct descendant of the last King of Ladakh Tsepel Tondup Namgyal.
Later he served in the Parliament of India, and was deeply engaged with welfare, education and rights of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes of India. In his later years, he became India’s Ambassador in Mongolia. The airport at Leh is named after him.

The majestic Spituk Gompa

For a present day view of Spituk monastery and surroundings, please see this video:

IN THE SHADOW OF THE SPITUK GOMPA

By Kapil Aggarwal

I had the good fortune of serving in Leh and our unit lines were in the shadow of the historic Spituk Gompa. It was 20 Jan 1997 and I still remember the day vividly. Leh was reeling in extreme cold conditions with night temperature plummeting below minus 20 degree C. But the day began with bright sunshine getting reflected from the shimmery carpet of snow which covered every piece of terra-firma around. This is all which was required to lift the spirits early in the morning in an environment of unforgiving shivering cold. I was just getting ready to leave for office when Telephone set 5A rang at around 8 AM; senior JCO was on the line informing me that a burglary had occurred in the Quarter Master Store, next to Unit Lines.

A typical scene in winter in Ladakh

The Commanding Officer was on a short spell of leave and there was no Second in Command posted, thus the responsibility rested squarely on my shoulders. While rushing to my office and onwards to the scene of the incident, the usual thoughts of a requirement of a Court of Inquiry and the consequent loss of face for the unit for the security breach were in my mind. The QM store was a row of Bashas (mud huts) as was the accommodation for men spread over a large flattish area. To the rear of the stores was a gentle slope going down to a road about 10 meters away, of course all snow covered; the road itself encircled the Spituk Village which was nestled amongst many Army Units around. In deep winters, life used to come to a standstill in Leh town with all Hotels and eateries closed. There being no local produce in winters and the road link closed from October onwards, the populace subsisted on rations dug in from previous summer. However, Spituk still had a few tea stalls and small eateries going; rumours had it that it was all Army rations somehow finding its way to the village.
I was soon inside the Basha which had saved rations stored there, items like Milk Powder tins, Refined Oil, Butter etcetera, which were all properly accounted and issued to troops for Barakhana and other regimental celebrations. About a dozen of those tins and sundry packages were missing. The rear of the store had a high fixed window (for sunlight), secured with barbed wires from outside which faced Spituk village. The breach lay here and few boot marks in the snow on the slope leading to the road were the tell-tale sign. Adjoining Bashas had non consumable stores like winter clothing, equipment and tentage. These were all safe and untouched.

A view of a typical army unit

After conferring with the senior JCO, the line guard on night duty was summoned and questioned, the Duty JCO security check register perused but no clues found. I asked my company subaltern to have all men fall in, after all there could be an insider role else how would the thief know which basha had the rations. Despite almost an hour of debriefing, questioning and motivating the men, there was still no breakthrough. Before long, I had reached a decision point, to report the incident or somehow make good the losses. A formal Inquiry was unlikely to lead to any conclusive findings and would end with summary punishments to men on night guard, most likely hapless soldiers on sentry duty over a dark night, sans any lamps whatsoever, in the harshest climate possible.

Before noon, I had already called the subaltern, who had just seen six lunar months as a commissioned officer, to my office. A spirited guy, his enthusiasm still intact, he agreed that it could be the handiwork of a native running one of those eateries nearby and needed to be trapped. Before long, an operation was hatched (!!) and I handed over my as yet unused Dictaphone to him. The same evening, a young Sepoy approached one of those shops and posing as a soldier proceeding on leave, struck a deal with the owner for purchasing a milk powder tin at discount price next day. My friend reported to me the successful set up of the plan, although he was not sure whether that particular shopkeeper only was our culprit; there was no sure shot way of knowing that.

Tea shop in Ladakh — representative image

Next day, some more resources were pressed into service; a JCO with a motorcycle, a one Ton truck with few men apart from our daring Subaltern on the job. At the appointed hour, I started in my Jeep; sharp at 11 ‘O’ clock the young ‘Sepoy’ was taking delivery of the milk powder tin, obviously with Army markings while the JCO fetched the SHO of local Police Station just in time to witness the unauthorized sale/purchase of Army rations, the guilt doubly proven with the audio recordings of previous evening. The Policeman started doing what Police usually do while agreeing that Army rations should be recovered. Well, the men in the one Ton didn’t need an invitation and the shop was ransacked in no time to fill up half the vehicle with Army rations. A couple of our guys went overboard and loaded even the scooter of Shopkeeper and I had to step in at that point of time. Back in the Unit, stock taking revealed that the recovery did not exactly match the inventory of losses but made up for it adequately in terms of value.
 The Commanding Officer returned a couple of days later, he was duly briefed by me and the incident was laid to rest. I put in another 22 years of service before retirement and this may have been an insignificant episode in my career; However, the following dilemmas have continued to disturb me till this day :-

• Was there an insider who went unpunished?
• Was the Shopkeeper penalized enough for trading in Army rations?
• The actual culprit may have gone scot free.
• And lastly, whether I would advise any officer today to take such action?

My personal answer is an emphatic ‘NO’

As I approach the evening of my life, I invite views of my friends, on how such incidents should be tackled, to strike a balance between the exuberance of the youth and wisdom of the old.

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Opinion of the Editor

Before inviting comments from the readers, it is only fair, that I should offer my personal views on the issue. I have chosen to record them in point form:

• Theft and burglary are omnipresent, in military as well as civilian life. When I was working with Ashok Leyland, twelve marine engines were ‘stolen’ and the process of recovering them was painful and tortuous.

• Pilferage occurs all the time, everywhere. When I a young officer, a wise old soldier told me, “Even if an absolutely honest man distributes ‘gangajal’ his hands are bound to get wet!” During my service, I used to turn a Nelson eye towards petty offences.

• In the high altitudes, the scale of rations is rather generous, and the appetite drops. Surplus gets generated, and officers need to exercise due care, to utilize it properly.

• The involvement of an ‘insider’ can never be ruled out. But a formal inquiry leads to ‘witch-hunting’ and can lead to an innocent man getting punished.

• The most sagacious approach is to keep changing personnel who control ‘attractive’ stuffs in the quartermaster stores ant the canteen. And, indeed, there is no substitute to constant vigilance.