When we shot India and China's armies over explosives, chicken curry and roti

"They'd be very suspicious since you a journalist. Let me ask. If their Senior Colonel agrees, we will be able to shoot with them."

With these words of a young Indian Army officer, we began our work at the Army's Foreign Training Node in Pune.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) was the 'they' in the equation. The 172-member contingent (a "company" in military terminology accompanied by translators, observers and members of media) from the 13th Group Army, based out of Tibet had arrived to participate in the sixth edition of "Hand In Hand" joint training exercise with the Indian Army.

As always, our troops were ready and with finesse, my cameraperson, Ankur Arora made good of the opportunity. As for the other side, I had my doubts.

The seemingly uphill task was 'sorted' within seconds. All it took was a request from the Commanding Officer (CO) of the Indian battalion to the Senior Colonel (Brigadier equivalent) of the PLA, in fluent Mandarin by the way. We were courteously led to the PLA barracks. For as long as we wanted, in the manner we wanted, tired and hungry troopers of the PLA posed for us.

For our camera, they displayed their weapons, uniforms and equipment. Though most of them did not understand our instructions in English, their English-speaking officer did a fine job of ensuring we got the right frames.

Often referred to as adversaries, it was refreshing to see the two armies, officer to officer, trooper to trooper, join up. In their free time they would go about their business, separately readying weapons, uniforms, singing and exercising. The briefings also took place separately, on account of the language barrier. However, when it came to the exercises, they became one. Two companies fielded before our eyes were mixed. They jointly took on simulated terrorists, busted simulated hideouts, unearthed simulated Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and fired from each other's weapons. Jointly, they also danced, laughed and let their hair down.

However, sensitivities concerning the other remained.

For example, while the Indian Army fielded a battalion of the Maratha Light Infantry, the PLA would just not reveal the name of their battalion! Many on the Indian side felt the battalion "had been put together for the display" since it lacked the visible feel.

Old China hand and former Director General Infantry, Lieutenant General JS Bajwa (Retd) told me, "In China, counter terrorism and internal security is handled by People's Armed Police Force and not PLA. So why send PLA here? However, the PLA has a unit kept near Beijing which only goes for such exercises. It could be that."

Was this exercise merely a photo-op then?

Back in Pune, an Indian officer came up to tell me, "Since they are not identifying their battalion so in your report, do not identify us." When I pointed to the Indian uniforms where the battalion's name could easily be seen, they withdrew.

Most Indian participants also admitted they were wary of displaying "all we have to the Chinese". Said a participating trooper, "You may see a more complex, deeper interaction when we exercise with the Russians or British or others. With the Chinese, there are other factors that come into play".

A young, Indian officer revealed a slight annoyance with the "extremely inquisitive nature of the Chinese". He said, "They take photos of everything, the name, ranks, uniforms, weapons et al. They write down newer words they hear. You can be talking to them and they will keep shooting! If they see someone who they have not seen earlier, they will want to find out."

We got a taste of what the officer was referring to when a PLA officer took liking to a nan khatai (biscuit) he'd eaten. After making me repeat the word "nan khatai" several times till he could somewhat pronounce it, he took his diary and jotted it down!

Interestingly, while a standard Indian uniform would give an idea about the rank, regiment, arm and the places the owner of the uniform had served in, the PLA uniform (TYPE 07 digital camouflage) revealed nothing except the rank. Speaking to the Chinese, one learnt how everything, from the uniform to the belt to the combat pouch to the shoes to the bag and even the water bottle were provided by the government. They were taken aback when I told them that in India, men and officers often get allowances to make purchases which can result in uniforms reflecting varying shades of olive green.

There was one area where the Chinese were unabashedly open - food.

While there were a few Indian troops eating out of the PLA-manned kitchen, the real crowd was on the Indian side. PLA members, we saw, loved chicken curry and rotis.