New Delhi, Aug. 15 -- At the stroke of the midnight hour, as the world slept, India awoke to "life and freedom" 78 years ago on this day. In the years to come, India's new-found Independence would significantly impact its association with its neighbouring countries.

Not only was there massive turbulence in the northwest that resulted in the enduring situation with Kashmir as the epicentre of conflict with the newly Independent Pakistan in the west, waves of turmoil had battered eastern India long before Independence redefined the dynamics in that region.

The war with China in 1962 had major bearings on India. Less than two decades after sovereign India awoke to freedom, on August 16, 1964, a fourteen year-old boy from a prominent wealth...