Ira Pande

A loose collection of articles on India-China relations, covering the usual grounds including the Buddhist scholars' exchanges. Of the papers, perhaps the most interesting is award-winning author Vikram Seth's on his trip to the cold desert of Turfan. The others are for the most part recapitulations of official positions of the two countries respectively. Like many such efforts, the central issue of the territorial conflict and the 1962 debacle is not addressed full-on, so this may well be a show more lost opportunity. People on both sides have to face up to the fact that a settlement will involve giving up some parts of their beloved entrenched territorial positions, and the question really seems to be whether the leadership has the political will to prepare their peoples for such inevitable compromises. show less