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.
Our people were extremely enthusiastic, emotional and waiving the flag with great gusto. We are indeed very emotional people.
|
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!
8 comments:
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.
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 ?"
Pijush Das said," I went as a commoner to Wagah... and its badly managed.. too much crowds..no one can see anything..bad organisation"
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.
Cauvery Kumar said,"CP, take heart, 70 years is still less than the 100 years war."
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 ?"
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
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.
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