Roorkee (Uttarakhand), Sep 19 (PTI) National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval on Saturday recalled how as a young IPS officer, he thought his career was all but over after a team he had dispatched for border surveillance was captured by the Chinese army.
Though he was found not at fault, the incident left him distressed, Doval told students at the convocation ceremony of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee.
The NSA recalled that in his 20s, he was posted in Sikkim and monitoring activities along the border were part of his responsibilities.
Doval said that ahead of Sikkim’s merger with India, he sent a team on a five-day mission for border surveillance. The team, however, did not return even after 10 days.
He then received a call from the Intelligence Bureau headquarters informing him that the team was in the custody of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
In that moment, Doval said, he thought that it was the end of his career.
Later, the team was released unharmed from Chinese custody. An inquiry into the incident found errors in the sketches and maps that were provided to the team by the headquarters, which caused confusion about the border’s location, he said.
The inquiry did not hold Doval responsible.
Despite this, he said, the incident left him deeply disappointed and distressed.
“I was very sad. It was that phase of life when you feel extremely dejected,” he said.
During this difficult time, advice from a Tibetan Sherpa colleague left him with a valuable life lesson.
“It is all a matter of map-reading. Some people read maps correctly, while others get it wrong,” Doval said, sharing the advice from the Sherpa, who he said had scaled Mount Everest eight times and spent years amidst snowy peaks.
The NSA said the Sherpa also shared three mantras that have influenced his life significantly: first, where are you; second, where do you want to go; and third, what is the route to get there and come back.
Over time, this advice evolved from merely a way to navigate mountainous paths into a perspective on life, Doval said. PTI DPT DIV DIV
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