Rather than mess around on the bus – I decided to go by share jeep, and it turned out to be an interesting experience. Sharing the jeep with me were four sisters, their grand father, and the husband of one of the sisters. They quickly adopted me, and we ended up chatting during the one hour journey to the border.
We arrive 30 minutes early, and the stands are already packed. On the Indian side, men and woman are in the road dancing away to India style dance music. People are shouting, clapping, whistling, and the warm up guy doesn't have much to do to get the crowd going.
Soldiers getting ready for the ceremony, and the warm up guy on the left:
Packed stands at the border crossing – Pakistan is on the other side of the big gate:
In a few days time – India will be sixty years old – and people are hear to celebrate. The crowd getting worked up on the Indian side of the border - click to watch:
Looking over to the Pakistan side – it looks subdued – the seating obviously segregated: women on one side of the road – men on the other.
While on the Indian side – people are going crazy. And then the ceremony begins, and soldiers march around in the most comical way...click to watch the video:
There are two sides to the border crossing (pun not intended :-).
On the one side – it's fun - Monty Python's Ministry Of Silly Walks, crossed with the changing of the guards. On the other side – the ceremony shows the split between these two countries.
I hear some men shouting something about Pakistan, and when I inquire I'm told they are shouting “down with Pakistan”. When I looked surprised the man I asked responds: “well we are at war with them”.
And it really does feel as if there's something behind the aggressive posturing. It really does look like there's no love lost between the soldiers on each side.
And the border ceremony throws up the differences between these two neighbors. In India – women are free to dance in the street. In Pakistan – they are separated by a road from the men – and there's no dancing.
I did wonder whether it was my imagination that things looked subdued on the Pakistan side. But when I've talked to other travelers – they all had the same impression.
One other rather bizarre observation: on the Pakistan side the wind was blowing, making the flags flap in the wind; on the Indian side there wasn't even the slightest hint of a breeze.
Click this link for Michael Palin's overview of the ceremony from the Pakistan side.
From the ceremony we headed back to town - but rather than head back to the drop off point, the family requested that we go to the Silver Temple – the Hindu equivalent of the Golden Temple.
Getting ready to head back into town:
And I was so glad when they took me along with them. I'd already been there in the afternoon and felt like an observer – while in the evening I felt more like a participant as they took me around the temple.
Silver work in the Silver Temple:
Rock and Roll Guitar avatar:
While I'd only gone to the middle bit in the afternoon – they took me round the full thing. Half of the family were Sikh, while the other half were Christian – so it was an amazing experience following them around a Hindu temple.
The Silver Temple – taken during my afternoon visit:
And after going around the temple, we stopped in the dining room and had dhal and chapati – just like with the Golden Temple the food is free – with donation boxes on the way out.
It was a really great trip out – thanks to the kind family who adopted me for the evening.
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