Soldiers in India are often involved in "Crowd Control" or making sure monkeys aren't attacking people in packs that they tend to travel in. So, 6 foot long bamboo sticks are very common. I remember being somewhere that the Dalai Lama was and my wife and I were put up on a platform with the Indian Aristocracy because we were white people and then the common people were pushed up against buildings with these 6 foot long bamboo sticks quite forcefully so that the Mercedes Cars of the Dalai Lama and other important people could pass by this gathering of Indians and Tibetans and Nepalis primarily waiting for them to arrive.
At the time I was sort of horrified but people in general haven't been to school as much then so self discipline of the kind we expect from people who at least have graduated from High School isn't present in people who never went to even first grade so have no formal training socially at all. So, I could sort of understand what was going on even if I didn't like it.
But, then again, I'm an American and used to growing up in an entirely different culture than in India or Nepal.
However, this was in late 1985 or early 1986 in India likely in or near Bodhgaya, India in Bihar state.
So, when I heard about bamboo sticks with rock studs that soldiers beat each other to death with recently on the China border it brought me back to the 6 foot bamboo sticks that soldiers commonly carry for crowd control in India. At least they did this in 1985 an 1986 when I was traveling in India and Nepal for around 4 months time with my family then.
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