Friday 24 October 2014
After their train trip and after checking in at the Holiday Inn (not your everyday Holiday Inn!) in Amritsar, Pati and BeeBee were driven to Wagah on the border between India and Pakistan. Since 1959, the Border Security Forces (BSF) of India and the Pakistan Rangers have performed an elaborate flag lowering ceremony at this international border. The ceremony is a mock-aggressive, well-choreographed (and infinitely negotiated) competition between the two different groups. Participating soldiers are chosen for their height, physique, and performance abilities. The Indian side has recently added women to their corps, but they are not allowed yet to do anything more than march to the gates, since the Pakistanis do not yet have women soldiers here.
Both sides have built tall stands for viewers. Pati and BeeBee, being US citizens, were permitted to sit in the VIP section with a slightly better view into the Pakistan side. However, once the performance began, and people stood up, height was more important than VIP-ness!
The performance on the Indian side was preceeded by children and some adults running into the performance area carrying the flag of India. Anyone could enter the queue to carry the flag. After this, some young women (and some young men and children) danced in an impromptu fashion to music blaring on the loudspeaker, enthusiastically if not especially well. Through all this, a man climbed through the stands selling baseball caps sporting the flag of India.
Promptly at 5 pm, the main event began, and it ended promptly at 5:30. Pati and BeeBee's guide had explained the ceremony and what the various shouted slogans would mean. This was fortunate, since otherwise, they would have had very little idea what was being said! A man in white was the Master of Ceremonies on the Indian side; another MC on the Pakistan side could be heard performing similar duties. The MCs shouted slogans that were repeated by the audience. On the Indian side, it was: BSF! Second to none! And so on. Undoubtedly, the Pakistan side was shouting similar slogans for the Rangers. Between the slogans, the soldiers of each side took turns strutting and posturing for the benefit of the audience and the soldiers on the other side.
The ceremony ended with the flags of both countries lowering simultaneously, a soldier from each side shaking hands, and the gates slamming shut.
Readers of this blog should really find videos of this ceremony on YouTube.
Postscript: as a result of recent unrest between India and Pakistan, sweets for Diwali were not given to the Rangers by the BSF.
After their train trip and after checking in at the Holiday Inn (not your everyday Holiday Inn!) in Amritsar, Pati and BeeBee were driven to Wagah on the border between India and Pakistan. Since 1959, the Border Security Forces (BSF) of India and the Pakistan Rangers have performed an elaborate flag lowering ceremony at this international border. The ceremony is a mock-aggressive, well-choreographed (and infinitely negotiated) competition between the two different groups. Participating soldiers are chosen for their height, physique, and performance abilities. The Indian side has recently added women to their corps, but they are not allowed yet to do anything more than march to the gates, since the Pakistanis do not yet have women soldiers here.
Both sides have built tall stands for viewers. Pati and BeeBee, being US citizens, were permitted to sit in the VIP section with a slightly better view into the Pakistan side. However, once the performance began, and people stood up, height was more important than VIP-ness!
The performance on the Indian side was preceeded by children and some adults running into the performance area carrying the flag of India. Anyone could enter the queue to carry the flag. After this, some young women (and some young men and children) danced in an impromptu fashion to music blaring on the loudspeaker, enthusiastically if not especially well. Through all this, a man climbed through the stands selling baseball caps sporting the flag of India.
Promptly at 5 pm, the main event began, and it ended promptly at 5:30. Pati and BeeBee's guide had explained the ceremony and what the various shouted slogans would mean. This was fortunate, since otherwise, they would have had very little idea what was being said! A man in white was the Master of Ceremonies on the Indian side; another MC on the Pakistan side could be heard performing similar duties. The MCs shouted slogans that were repeated by the audience. On the Indian side, it was: BSF! Second to none! And so on. Undoubtedly, the Pakistan side was shouting similar slogans for the Rangers. Between the slogans, the soldiers of each side took turns strutting and posturing for the benefit of the audience and the soldiers on the other side.
The ceremony ended with the flags of both countries lowering simultaneously, a soldier from each side shaking hands, and the gates slamming shut.
Readers of this blog should really find videos of this ceremony on YouTube.
Postscript: as a result of recent unrest between India and Pakistan, sweets for Diwali were not given to the Rangers by the BSF.
Postscript: We just found out that a suicide bomber killed at least 60 people a few days after our visit.
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| BSF! Second to None! |
Big Bro has seen one or more YouTubes of the ceremony - really impressive.
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