This border that now decrees
One shared past with two histories,
 This border that now decides
The sky between us as two skies
This border born of blood spilt free
Makes you, my friend, my enemy.

-Dr Bashabi Fraser

I am talking of Wagah, which I had seen only on television when our former Prime Minister went through it to Lahore – an hour away by road from there. Today, I have seen it and can understand the anguish of those living  on both sides of it. They need to have visas to cross it and be with their loved ones or look after their property.

Sundown is a special time to be here when a very formal ceremony by soldiers on both sides takes place. Whatever is the time of sunset, with great precision the flags of both countries come down at the same time each day.

The army men here must have been specially chosen for their height and looks—so imposing are they, especially when they march and raise their legs sky-high. While the Indian soldiers wear regular below-the-knee length trousers, on the other side they wear flared stiff pajamas with sherwanis.

Both sets of army men are very ‘starched’ and smart... no doubt about that because of their excellent physique. On both sides an audience is allowed. I don’t know whether on the day we went it was so, but the crowds on the Indian side were very large and they occupied ‘vantage points’ to view the ceremony, whereas only a few persons were watching as visitors on the other side.

On both sides, there exist galleries like in a Stadium—and so large numbers of people get a good view. There is patriotic music while we wait and nearing the ceremony, there is a call on the mike which the crowd repeats—impassioned it certainly is such as Vande Mataram and Bharat Mata ki Jai or Hindustan Zindabad. On the other, we frequently heard “Pakistan Zindabad”.

Between the two countries, there seems to be a no man’s land, locked by a gate on either side. These gates open as soon as the order is received for bringing down the flag at sundown—the synchronisation of this act is amazing—wish our two countries could work together on all our problems like that. The flags come down, are folded neatly and put away carefully—to be taken out next morning for being hoisted up with the same smartness and attention to detail on either side.

What a sense of history—and what a longing rises in everyone’s heart for normal relations and peace. The whole scene is spectacular and touches every nerve of patriotism in everyone!

The day we went was cold, windy and wet. We had driven from Kapurthala (about three to three and a half hours away) through the bye-pass in Amritsar and reached the Wagah border around four thirty in the evening.

Our hosts were used to the cold, but the three of us from the South felt the wind chill ripping through us. The rain made it colder than usual and we had to hug our shawls as close as possible. This was in the last week of February.

On our way back, we visited two more places which all Indians would love to see. One is the Golden Temple. Any opportunity to visit it, must be considered as truly “golden”—such is the admiration one feels for its free round the clock worship and the “Kaar Seva” which means that whether you are prince or pauper, you may offer your services in the temple—many do a lot of sweeping of the premises—on that day they were draining away all the rain water in the open quadrangle surrounding the temple and the lake in between.

Some assist in cooking and serving food. I am told they have a very clean service of food for devotees (called Langar Ghar). The third most appealing aspect is the spotless cleanliness in and around the temple.

As you enter, there is a drain of clean water onto which you step to wash your feet before going in as in Tirupathi. The ambience inside the sanctum sanctorum where the sacred ‘Granth’ is kept and religious hymns are chanted, inspires spirituality. The concept of helping each other is the essence of the Golden Temple. Truly worth a visit by all, irrespective of caste, creed, community, class or gender.

The other historic place, just a stone’s throw away from Harmandir Sahib, (or the Golden Temple), is  the Jallianwala Bagh Memorial. On April 13, 1919, a massacre took place there, when unexpectedly and without any provocation, Brig. Gen Dyer ordered his men to shoot at a peaceful crowd of hundreds of defenceless men, women and children. Many jumped into the well and died.

We were lucky it was open at that late hour of 8 pm. It was a very narrow entrance through which we got in. “People were fired at from here”, reads a plaque as we go in, wet with the rain that day. Today, the dry well is enclosed and there is a monument consisting of a 30 foot high pylon for these martyrs, called the Flame of Liberty…


FACT FILE

*How does one get to Amritsar?

There are planes and train services from Delhi. You need to go by surface to the Wagah Border. There are lots of places where you get typical Punjabi food consisting of chappathies made of makki, accompanied by sarson ka saag. Don’t miss this.