THE TIBET WATCHER

For Claude Arpi, one of the foremost Tibetologists in India, border issues and conflict can go hand in hand with a spiritual life

- SNEHA BHURA

Claude Arpi does not much care for Twitter. The 71-year-old Tibetologist is convinced that the ongoing India-China border dispute cannot be discussed in 280 characters. The Frenchman has also been resisting invitations for webinars and virtual panels. But, he could not avoid the virtual event on October 16—the release of the last part of his quadrilogy on India-Tibet relations (1947-1962); Tibet: The Last Months of a Free Nation (2017), Will Tibet Ever Find her Soul Again? (2018), Tibet: When the Gods Spoke (2019) and The End of an Era, India Exits Tibet. Arpi dug into difficult-to-access archival material to spotlight India’s Tibet policy then, the blunders therein and how it complicated boundary relations leading to the 1962 Indo-China War.

For over 10 years Arpi has used his blog to offer incisive takes on the geopolitics of Tibet, China and the Indian subcontinent. Arpi has often received alerts like “the state is monitoring your emails” on Gmail. “But at least Google is informing you,” he wryly remarks.

Today, the author and historian, who graduated as a dental surgeon in France, is quoted in most Indian newspapers, magazines and defence journals as one of the foremost Tibetologists living in India. He holds the Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa Chair of Excellence at the United Service Institution of India for research on India-Tibet relations. From how China lost a friend in Ladakh to lessons from Galwan to the origins of the secretive Special Frontier Force (SFF), Arpi’s 40-year-passion for all things India-China-Tibet is most resonant now.