Apr 18. 5PM. Dilip D’Souza and Joy Ma. “The Deoliwallahs: The untold account of the 1962 Chinese-Indian internment.”
Abstract: The India-China war of 1962 was brief and brutal, but otherwise just another marker in the long-running power struggle between the two emerging powers in Asia; If not all-out war, the hostilities continue even today. In 1962, what started as a border skirmish rapidly evolved into the deployment of troops, but was swiftly resolved to bring peace at the disputed border. But far from the border, the war also completely disrupted the lives of the community of Chinese-Indians.
Just after the Sino-Indian war of 1962, 3000+ Chinese-Indians were sent to a camp in Deoli, Rajasthan. Indians with Chinese features, Chinese names or family ties who had lived for generations in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Shillong, Tinsukia were taken from their homes and transported to Deoli Internment Camp. The Deoliwallahs, as they later came to be known, would go on to spend years and for some over four years in a disused prisoner of war camp with unsanitary conditions and meager rations. While the war lasted for a month, suspicion and paranoia ensured that families remained in these prison camps without any means of employment or education, and under constant surveillance. Even after their release, many struggled to return to their lives and resume work. A large number of them moved to Canada, USA, Australia and other countries, leaving behind a painful past in India.
Sixty years later, the story of the Deoliwallahas remains largely forgotten in Indian history. Joy Ma, who was born in the camp in 1963, recounts her mother’s and other internees’ days at the Deoli camp and reminds us of India’s tryst with concentration camps, something that we Indians only associate with stories from Europe and America. Dilip D’Souza discusses the geopolitical context and narrates stories from many such Chinese-Indians.
Dilip D’Souza: A U.S. educated and Mumbai-based writer, Dilip’s writing has won several awards, including the Statesman Rural Reporting award, the Outlook/Picador nonfiction prize and the Newsweek/Daily Beast South Asia Commentary Prize. He has published eight books.
Joy Ma attended Lady Shri Ram College in Delhi and the New School for Social Research in the US.