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Two neighbours and a ritual

Nirupama Subramanian

The ritual border-closing parade between India and Pakistan seems all the more ironic considering that officers on both sides say they "enjoy good working relations."

CHOREOGRAPHED AGGRESSION: Pakistani Rangers and Border Security Force Jawans at Wagah. — PHOTO: AFP

"AMMI, SHAHRUKH Khan kab ayega?" a small boy on the Pakistani side of the gates asked as guards from Pakistan and India high-stepped and glowered at each other menacingly at the ritual flag-lowering parade on the border.

That innocent question was symbolic of how people in the two countries have found friendly ways to communicate despite the problems between their governments, but the moment was lost in the cacophony of a ritual that takes pride in fostering a nationalistic fervour bordering on hysteria on both sides.

On Friday, two days after media reports said the Border Security Force was planning to scale down the border-closing ritual on its side, no major change seemed visible to a viewer from the Pakistani side of the gates, except perhaps that the Indian guards were not goose-stepping as high as the Pakistani Rangers.

But the blood sport atmosphere was still very much there. Minutes before the guards gathered on both sides for the sundown ceremony, people ran to grab seats on the viewing gallery. Cries of "Pakistan Zindabad" and "Jiye Pakistan" rent the air, while from the other side, came the resounding "Bharat Mata ki jai" where Indians were packed into a similar viewing gallery.

In their black salwar kameez and starched turbans, fanned out like a crown at the top, the Pakistani Rangers looked and behaved like furious birds at a rooster fight, eliciting enormous cheers from the gallery for each angry shake of the head. On the other side, the BSF guards in their khakis and red turbans, were eliciting similar cheers.

Just as some cricket teams now have a regular cheerleader-cum-mascot who travels everywhere with the team, a grey and wizened gent carrying the green and white Pakistan flag was egging on the crowd at regular intervals, his voice matching the parade sergeant's.

Lonely Planet Pakistan recommends the border crossing to tourists visiting Lahore: "Whether or not you're going to India it's worth making a special trip to the border to watch the amazing closing of the border ceremony that takes place each day."

Sure enough, there were a number of tourists, including a large contingent of Chinese, snatching photo-ops of themselves with this unabashed display of mutual hostility as the backdrop. On the Indian side, an entire economy now revolves around this ritual, including food stalls for the tourists, and other shops selling flags and even CDs of the parade.

Members of a Pakistani family, recently returned from Canada, said it was an "enjoyable experience" and an afternoon out for all of them. They now want to see to it from the Indian side.

The ritual parade seems all the more ironic considering that it is highly choreographed, with officers on both sides saying they "enjoy good working relations" with each other and meet every month to discuss small modifications to the ceremony to "improve co-ordination."

Asked why they put on this show of hostility at all, considering the sort of mood it creates, not to talk of the stress fractures on the knees of the guards, an officer said it had become part of the tradition of border-closing between the two countries.

The officer was unaware of the reported announcements of changes on the Indian side and said he had not noticed any. According to him, both sides had scaled down the ceremony considerably since 2004, and routinely made some changes, but this was at the local level, not handed down as policy.

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