Wagah - Border closing ceremony

Thirty kilometres away from Amritsar is the border between India & Pakistan – the Wagah border. Here is one of the few transit points between the 2 neighbours, for people and goods. The Atari railway station, through which the Samjhauta Express between the two countries passes, is just a couple of kilometres from the border. The border is fiercely guarded on both sides. The gates are closed at sunset each day and over the years, the closing process has evolved into an elaborate ceremony.
Scores of people come from all over the country to witness this amazing event. There are galleries on either side of the road for the spectators to sit. We reached there around 5 in the evening. The stands were jam-packed with people and after a bit of acrobatics we managed to get into a spot which offered a good view.

A mounted BSF jawan

Thats the view of the gallery and the crowd

A young patriot!

There... just a few metres from us was Pakistan...the land with which we share so much in common, yet which over the years have been such a huge cause of concern. How different is it from our land...I wondered? What about the people?...surely, there wouldn’t be such a lot of variation from us, after all they were our brothers till half a century back...All these thoughts passed through my mind as I gazed across the ‘border’ into Pakistan... The song from the movie ‘Refugee’...’panchhi nadiyaan pawan ke jhonke.....’ aptly describes the conundrum... Personally I feel that if both the countries were to invest the same amount of effort into other areas, the common people will benefit hugely. The amount of money spend on this ‘enemity’ is mind boggling. If it were to be channelized elsewhere into say, education or healthcare, the aam admi will benefit hugely.
Well, the border closing ceremony is truly something to behold. The Border Security Force on our side and the Pakistani Rangers on theirs put up a spectacular display of aggression, passion and competence. The atmosphere is really charged with the crowd shouting slogans like ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’ and ‘Vande Mataram’.
The children in the crowd are allowed to come onto the road and run with the Indian flag till the gates...its really amazing to see the tiny tots full of enthusiasm proudly carry the flag...
The energy of the crowd is infectious. There are people from different parts of the country next to me...people of different colours, languages, religions, cultures...yet; the unifying factor is that we all are Indians!! The diversity is there for all to see, yet the passion that runs there is really something...
The one noticeable difference between the people on two sides were that while we were shouting, cheering and having a blast, the people on the Pakistani side were much more quieter.. probably because those were the rules for the closing ceremony on their side. Here, we had music blasting from the loudspeakers; of patriotic yet foot tapping bollywood songs like those from ‘Rang De Basanti’. There were girl students dancing on the roads and in the stands, both men and women were dancing...yet there was no such uninhibited joy on the Pakistani side. They were forced to adhere to a very formal code of behaviour...and thats when I realised how a few things were starkly different, things which we often take for granted like freedom of expression and also of the greater role enjoyed by the women....

The soldiers during the actual ceremony

Soon, the actual ceremony started. Two smartly dressed lady officers from the BSF marched out, swiftly marching to the gate with ‘goose-steps’ and saluting...One actually feels great pride on seeing the young woman officers, who symbolise such a lot of things – freedom, progress of woman...
This is matched by officers on the Pakistani side(male officers though, as there werent any lady soldiers in their side) replicating the actions step for step...Soon male officers follow, whose aggressive steps, actions and stares suggest-‘this is our land, our soil! Don’t ever think of harming it!!’ the actions are so exaggerated on either sides that its almost like a co-ordinated pageantry...the marching steps are such that the soldiers raise their feet so high that one wonders whether they don’t hurt their knees...of course, it looks like their boots will probably last for a little over a week only, what with all the stamping they do!
The ceremony lasts for almost an hour and in the end, the flags on either side are lowered and the border is closed for the day...we got down to the road and went upto the gate and the BSF officers to shake hands with them - to thank them for guarding us, for giving us the freedom to carry on with our lives....
Do travel to Wagah for a sheer patriotic experience...

There...thats Pakistan beyond the gate