Sunday, August 11, 2013

DO BORDERS DIVIDE?



THE BORDER
Wagah border is the door between two nations which were once one without borders. About 66 years ago, a border was made and land was divided. People were uprooted and houses built with a lot of love, care and money were left behind. People moved to unknown places to settle down after having lost everything and tried to grow new roots in a different soil.
Very few of that generation which faced all that heart break, pain, misery, anguish, remain to tell the story. There are a lot of films made and a lot of stories written on the pain which brought about the partition of a property which created a lot of rift and animosity between people who were once brothers.

DISTANCES
 I travelled to Amritsar to see this border. They say Amritsar and Lahore were twin cities. They both were cultured and beautiful cities at close proximity with each other. Amritsar is relatively a new city built about 500 years ago by Guru Ram Das the 5th Guru of the Sikhs. Lahore on the other hand is known to be at least 2000 years old. It was the capital of the Mughal Empire for some time and Jehangir lived here for a considerable period of time. The famous story of Salim and Anarkali belonged to Lahore. Maharaja Ranjit Singh ruled from here. Lahore was the citadel of learning and its University, Govt College for Men, Foreman  Christian College,  Aitchison College were famous institutions. The tombs of Jehangir and  Noor Jehan are in Lahore. Lahore is famous for its cuisine, culture and juttis. 
Amritsar  is famous for the Golden temple, Durgiana Temple and Jallianwala Bagh. The cuisine of Amritsar and its street food too is legendary.
OUR SIDE OF THE STANDS AT WAGAH
We were in Amritsar to see the Closing ceremony at the Wagah border. There is a gate at the border. The Indian  gate is painted in the tri color. As one approaches Attari one sees the sign boards showing the distance to Lahore. We approach the border from the Swarn Jayanti gate. On this gate facing Pakistan is a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi.

OUR ENTRANCE GATE
On the side of Pakistan they have a portrait of Mohd. Jinnah. There are stands on the side for tourists to sit and witness the ceremony. Our side of the stands were choc a block filled with people. There were children and women running with the Indian flag in their hands from the Swarn Jayanti gate to the Border gate. Loud speakers were blaring out nationalist and patriotic songs mostly from films. There was Chak de India, Himmat watan ki hamse hai, Jai ho, and Yeh desh hai veer jawano ka.  The beat of the music was such that one automatically wanted to dance or clap.


THEIR STAND & PORTRAIT OF JINNA

Soon women from the public stands came down and started dancing the bhangra. Then the music stopped and one could hear the booming voice of a BSF Commander. The command went on as if it would never stop! Soon two men dressed in black with very dark glasses on their eyes marched across and stood near the Border gate. After that two women from the BSF marched to the Border gate and smartly stood there in attention after ceremoniously kicking their right leg high up.
They were followed by men from the BSF who were all more than 6'tall. They all marched smartly, aggressively, showed their attitude, temper, brute force and power. Yes, the closing ceremony was on its way.
  



LAND ACROSS THE BORDER
One is filled with pride watching the men march and kick up so high that it appears as if their toes go higher than their head gear. The marchers from the Pakistan side too  displayed the same mannerisms and antics as ours. The only place where they could not match us was that they did not have women marching to the border.Their stands too were devoid of people, perhaps as it was Ramzaan.
WOMEN CAME DOWN TO DANCE
Our people were extremely enthusiastic, emotional and waiving the flag with great gusto. We are indeed very emotional people.
THE FLAGS.
The flag was brought down with great precision. Each side made sure that the ceremony was in exact tandem. If looks could kill this was really one such ocassion, where even the blink of an eyelid could show that you were the loser. That actually explained why the dark glasses were worn by two BSF men. There was to be no blinking of eyes as they faced the opponent bang opposite each other. Gestures, looks, kicking of the legs with full force was fully dramatic and identical on both sides.It filled me  with pride and patriotism to watch the ceremony.
PAKISTAN & THEIR SIDE.
At the end of this ceremony, we could go behind and actually see Pakistan from across the barbed fence. The same fields, the same crops, the similar looking people with same color and features were trying to show animosity where perhaps none exists. People all over the world are humans first. They all want to live in peace. Europe is a continent without borders. Anyone can move about freely between countries. There is no hatred, no anger, no fear, no animosity. They seem to want to live in peace and harmony. They seem to want to grow, prosper and be comfortable. Why do we people of the same family want to fight, show aggression, show power? 
OUR BORDER
We celebrate our Independence Day on 15th August and Pakistan celebrates theirs on 14th August.We are two nations created craftily, hastily, by Sir Cyril Radcliffe who was just given one month to divide 175,000 square miles of territory with 88 million people. There was no thought given to the emotions of the people, the land and the territories that were divided. That happened 66 years ago. It is part of our History.
I take this opportunity to wish all of you A Very happy Independence DAY! Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!
At WAGAH.



8 comments:

Sampath said...

Dear Mrs.Varsha,
Thanks a lot.
An excellent and very interesting description of the Wagha border and Indo-Pak relations.It is the politicians who continuously fan the flames of hatred and animosity between the people of our country and Pakistan.Your comments on the historical background are very good.I am reminded of my visit,with my family,to Wagha border,in 1998.
Our choicest Independence Day Greetings.Hopefully,by the next Independence DAY IN 2014,India would have a better government,with a dynamic,selfless,incorruptible leader,with a vision.JAI HIND.Sincerely,N.R.Sampath.

Varsha Uke Nagpal said...

Chandra Pillai said,"a sorry, childish spectacle, and should be performed ( if at all) by retarded schoolboys..the mindless display of aggression is so symptomatic of the unrelenting, immature hostility between the two countries...European nations, that shed each other's blood in far more copious quantities for centuries, have buried the past and have gone ahead with their future..but we, of the sub-continent, with far longer history of living as friends and neighbours, are still in the partition-era time-warp..and using our jawans for providing a spectacle is surely an insult to their sacrifices..and i just fail to understand why religious noises are blasted out of loudspeakers on both sides...is god being invoked as an ally to all of this ?"

Varsha Uke Nagpal said...

Pijush Das said," I went as a commoner to Wagah... and its badly managed.. too much crowds..no one can see anything..bad organisation"

Varsha Uke Nagpal said...

Chandra Pillai our hostilities are new. We have not yet got over the hurt, therefore our neighbours affect us more. We as a race are more emotional and less forgiving. We believe in getting even, therefore are not as peaceful as we are expected to be. Our History of war too is still raw. Europe has had a long time to heal and move on. We too will move on with time. Till then this spectacle, show at the border and the entire ceremony keeps all of us filled with patriotism. I did not hear any religious noises though. It was all patriotic songs.

Varsha Uke Nagpal said...

Cauvery Kumar said,"CP, take heart, 70 years is still less than the 100 years war."

Varsha Uke Nagpal said...

Chandra Pillai said,"CK...100 yrs war( i presume u r referring to Europe) happened more than 500 yrs back, and no democracies were involved..and 70 years and still counting...take heart, u say ?"

Sublimation said...

I have gone through all the comments on this post. This separation of people, creation of borders have happened all over the world. This is definitely painful for all those who have been directly affected by this. I remember one of the very early TV serials on Doordarshan 'Buniyaad' which ran for a very long time which was based on the partition and was poignant in its depiction of the events. One of my favourite songs is 'Imagine' by John Lennon. I am reproducing the relevant lines here and wish that one day it shall become true.

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Shreekumar said...

The only relief democracy provides is that "regime change" can be managed without bloodshed. It, nevertheless, does allow an individual (or a political group) direct progress in a completely different, even diametrically opposite direction. Examples Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair. Even in the country calling itself the 'oldest constitutional democracy" (the US of A), the agenda keeps getting hijacked again and again. Perhaps, this is unavoidable even as we make infinitesimal progress as if the underlying driving force is no greater than gravitational attraction.