Wagah ka kutta

Gaur se dekhiye iss kutte ko! Kya yeh Pakistani hai ya Hindustani

Ha ha! Nobody can say until I tell you.

I met this dog at the Wagah border, seconds after I crossed over to Pakistan from India. For some reason I clicked his picture...may be because I was too much under the influence of Manto's Tetwal ka kutta.

I found this picture in my archives and dug it out to write about it. After 6 years destiny again puts me enroute Lahore as I have moved on from Tetwal ka kutta to Akhiri salute now.

Meanwhile, I have gone on the Sufi track. Interestingly that track also started with a dog...Mere Shehnshah...mainu kutteyan ch rakh lai....a song I heard for the first time at the dargah of Nau Gajah Peer near Ambala.

Dont have anything else to say.

Wagah Volley

Its been almost 5 years since I visited Pakistan facilitating a school exchange trip. But even before that I had been curious to watch the parade at Wagah.

I became a big critic of the Wagah border ceremony ever since I watched it. But always wanted to watch it from the Pakistani side. Did that sitting on the Pakistani side with the crowd cheering for Pakistan. Have written about it here:

http://pakistanmusings.blogspot.in/2011/03/tamasha-at-wagah-pakistani-side.html

This article is about the ideas that generated in my mind and remain unfulfilled till day.

I call the Wagah border ceremony a tamasha aimed at reinforcing the enemity between the two nations. People reach there for the thrill and the larger Indian discourse of Pakistan as the enemy is reinforced there. Though after the ceremony what remains is not enemity but curiousity to peep into the other side of the border as if something special is happening there on the other side.

Must admit that the genesis of my Lahore trip was the romance to be on the other side of the border and a students exchange seemed like the most apt medium to do so...considering the visa restrictions on both the sides. That romance is existent in numerous Indians and Pakistanis as I know from my interactions.

And perhaps the Wagah parade is no justice for that romance. But no matter how hard the two nations try, they cannot kill this romance with the enforced patriotism at the Wagah border ceremony. Its good that we have a fevi kwik ad that adds to the fun.

My ideas for an alternative to the parade are numerous.

1. One thing is clear that we have to respect the border and the boundary line. A great place where that happens is sports on the court, whether its the boundary line in cricket or its the volley ball net. How about a volley ball match between Indian and Pakistani border guards every evening with a net on the Indo Pak border? We respect the net and sometime India wins and sometimes Pakistan. People from both sides come to enjoy the match every evening.

2. Considering that Punjabi is spoken on both the sides. It could also be a concert every evening there, with people enjoying music from both the sides. The Wagah ceremony happens everyday no matter whats happening in the diplomatic circuit...so why not a concert?

3. An idea that I had long time back was to have something like a series of phone booths ala American Prisons. Booths with a glass wall in between and audio device so that people can talk to each other.

If we have 20-30 booths there, we could allow Indian and Pakistani people to see each other, talk to each other and know about each other without breaking the border line.

There were a series of pics posted earlier on facebook sharing the boundary lines between Germany and France and Belgium- Germany. Just a road perhaps. While it may take some time for India and Pakistan to reach that stage but the above ideas can be a good start.

India and Bhutan have a very simple border just like Europe.

So, how about the Wagah Volley.

P.S - I have wish to facilitate an Indo-Pak exchange with people from different section of the society. A housewife, a businessman, a tea vendor, a beggar, an army man, a doctor, a driver and so on. That will be quite an exchange impacting the relations in public memory. Unfortunately as of now its only limited to students, religious visits and business visits. How about people from every walk of life?

The tamasha at Wagah - Pakistani side

Ever since I saw the evening tamasha at Wagah on the Indian side...I wished it could end some day. But along with that I also wished if I could watch the tamasha sitting on the Pakistani side.

The wish came true when I visited Lahore for the first time in October 2010. The 'manzar' at the border is similar on both sides. Hordes of people descend at the border to witness it. While I had particularly noticed some Marathi tourists at the border on the Indian side....there were many from Karachi on this side. So, its a sort of national show on both sides. I also saw some school students lined up for the show.

The show on the Pakistani side is priced. You pay Rs 10 to get a ticket to watch the tamasha. As any visitor on the Indian side can gauge...there are two seperate enclosures for women and men respectively.

The rest of the procedure is same - cheering crouds instigated by the 'master of ceremonies' or is it 'master of cheeromonies'. On the Indian side I clearly remembered, a BSF guy in civil dress, coordinating the show.

Out here the gentleman didnt seem to be a army man but was doing similar business...prompting some well known lines...Jhule Jhule Pakistan....Pakistan ka matlab kya - La illahi ill llah, Pakistan - zindabad.

In no time I was one with the crowd and cheering for Pakistan. You just feel like cheering. It was interesting for me to cheer for Pakistan. But once you are in the crowd...you feel like being one. I must be the only Indian doing that...and how do you know in that crowd...who is an Indian and who isnt?

The ceremony as everybody knows is the same and is coordinated. There was nothing much dissimilar apart from the fact that I saw a man roaming around with a large framed picture of General Zialul Haq. I was amused and wanted to talk to that man.

Meeting with the middle class in Lahore, I had realised that Generali Zia didnt have much of a fan following amongst them. But Gen Zia's photograph. He replied ' Ay saade Pakistaan da Badshaah hai. Pakistan de gaddar ne ainu marya ai...jahaz de bich bumb rakh ke. Allah una nu aap maare' - " this is the king of Pakistan. Traitors of Pakistan killed him by planting a bomb on his plane. Allah will kill all of them". Was moved by his committment to Gen. Zia.

I have been planning to lauch a campaign to stop the pretended animosity at the tamasha...where they deliberately thump their boots and make angry postures at the sentries on the other side. Also, the deliberate and instigated cheeromony.

I have always wished the tamasha to stop.

A different experience - Pakistan Embassy in New Delhi

I VISITED THE PAKISTANI EMBASSY to make some enquiries about the visa process. Kya manzar hai! I have now visited quite a few embassies in New Delhi and I must say I got the best treatment at the Pakistan Embassy.

Generally the people manning the counters at European embassies are impolite but this man at the Pakistani embassy was 'Adab' at its best.Batayen Sir...Haan aapko visa mil jayega...aap ek letter mangvan le Pakistan se......." I felt really happy.

Even the people outside the embassy were different. Generally you find Sikhs all over the place in European..British embassies.But out here apart from people wearing the Muslim skull cap...there were people wearing huge pagdis...pathaan style and there were also Rajasthani pagdis...Perhaps a lot of people from Rajasthan have their relatives on the other side of the fence. It was quite an experience to be there.

One interesting thing is the fact that the ambience outside the embassy sometimes gives the semblance of a district court, with people sitting with typewriters. Its such a pain to get things typed. Interestingly and painfully, there is no soft copy of the visa form available on the website. So, we had to create one.

Not to take away from the experience, I guess one must visit the embassy in Delhi...its an interesting place to be in.

Quote on the Car

Just after coming back from Pakistan, I was on a high. Sharing stories of my experiences in Pakistan with a number of my friends and office colleagues.

Just then I found this car in front of me, which had the most blatant comment written about Pakistan 'Give Peace a chance, Destroy Pakistan'.

I could understand where that guy was coming from since his car had 'ARMY' written in bold...making it clear that the car belonged to an army personnel.

But thats true for a number of Indians, who think of Pakistan as nothing but an enemy.

thought of actually flagging that car and talk to its owner and share my stories about Pakistan...Just wish if I could do it.

Crossing Wagah 'on foot'

Its not everyday that one gets a chance to cross Wagah and that too on foot.

Well… I was fortunate enough to get an ‘on foot’ visa from the Pakistan High Commission and actually cross Wagah on foot.

I was with a grouop of students and a teacher.

Just as we reached the immigration counters on the Indian side of Wagah (which is actually called Attari)…we were told that we couldn’t cross the border on foot. The reason given to us was that we need to have special permission from the Ministry of External affairs to do so. The man at the counter actually showed us a copy of such letters from people who had crossed the border before. The letter was actually issued by the Indian High Commission at Islamabad requesting the immigration authorities to allow a person to cross on foot.

He said that he had no problems in allowing us to cross the border on bus. But then the Pakistan immigration would have stopped us saying that ‘ we were supposed to arrive on foot’. We were in a fix and getting a letter issued from a government authority is quite a pain in India.

Nevertheless, as mobile phones don’t work at Wagah (except Vodafone…as some say) and neither are there international or ISD phone booths at Wagah…I had to actually hire a taxi go back 4-5 kilometres to the place where my mobile started working. Then I had to make quite a few calls for the Indian High Commission to fax a letter to the Wagah check post. But let me say that the High Commission authorities were very cooperative and helped us out.

So, we were back again at Wagah at the same immigration counter with the same man…who now smiled at us.

Immigration: We had to fill up the standard Indian immigration form. But the fun part was filling up the ‘flight no.’ column. We had to write ‘on foot’ on it.

Customs: The immigration guys give you a slip, where the number of bags need to be filled up. This needs to be submitted to the customs. They scan your luggage and may want to manually check your baggage…ask a few questions…and you are on your way to the border. At Wagah its about half a kilometer walk from the customs to the border. Once you reach the border gate…the BSF people note down the passport details of the people who cross the border. And then you are right at the Indo-Pak gate

At the gate is a sentry from BSF…who checks your passports and just a metre away is the Pakistani sentry from the Rangers…who again checks your passports.

There is a line in between the two gates…which perhaps forms the border and the porter from the Indian side puts the luggage right on the line…from where the porter from the Pakistani side can pick it up.

Its just the reverse on the Pakistani side…first the entry with the rangers and then immigration and customs…and you are bang at Wagah on the other side.

The Pakistani immigration counters are much much better than the Indian side. While the Indian immigration counters give a feel of a railway station…the feeling on the Pakistani side is truly international…its like an international airport.

The Pakistani immigration counters even click photographs of people entering the country.

The walk is about a kilometer and a half…but its joy.

Manto ka Kauwa

Had read Manto's short story 'Manto ka Kutta' long time back. That was my first Manto read and I was damn impressed by his writing. Havent read much of him though.

Also, had heard a lot about the evening flag ceremony at Wagah Border a lot. My brother had told me that you must see the parade at least once.
So, when I visited Amritsar and had some time at my disposal...arranged for going for the Wagah ceremony. Had arranged for some up close seats near the gate but due to some miscommunication...we couldnt get those seats and had to see the ceremony along with hundreds of others. (actually glad that we didnt get thos 'VIP' seats)

What a crowd man...people from all parts of India...Marathis, Biharis, Tamils...everyone...armed with cameras and water bottles (Its damn hot in Amritsar). Everyone seemed to have reached much in advance...but there was no clue of any ceremony. The main gate was closed. Suddenly some songs started playing in the loud speakers..."Suno Gaur se duniya walo". There was a loud cheer in the crowd. People started chanting "Bharat Mata ki ....Jai". A gentleman came with a mike and starting prompting the audience to shout slogans aka "Vande..." and then the crowd was supposed to say "Mataram". He seemed to be a professional in what he was doing.

Initially...I also got charged with emotions of patriotism as some soldiers marched towards the gate. But soon...I got back to my nerves...and everthing seemed to be a tamaasha.

After that I dont want to describe...how things followed after that...people in the crowd were instigated to shout towards the Pakistani side...to make them hear....for them to understand that we are more in number and loudness.

After some reading...i was able to make out that the person, who was instigating the crowd was also from the Border Security Force, I suppose. A uniformed person (he was in civil dress at that time) instigating the crowd.

Moreover...the face off between Indian and Pakistani border guards just pissed me off. I mean...it felt like a bull fight wiht people instigating and the guards stomping their feet. All tamaasha....unneccessary dramatisation of a ritual...it seemed.

there was similar drama happening on the other side I suppose. I could see people shouting on the other side as well...but couldnt hear them as the entire game of the evening is not to let the other side make noise....so you keep shouting....thats it.

In no time...I was cucooned in a circle of my own in this massive crowd shouting pro-India slogans. In fact...may be for a while I couldnt even hear what they were shouting...it was just silence amidst noise. ...and I noticed one Crow sitting on the building of the Border security force fo India quickly take a flight and just glide towards a wall on the Pakistani side. Pure bliss...In a moment the crow...reminded me of the futility of the ceremony...happening. The border is just for humans not for these crows or some other creatures. I am sure that crow must be crossing the border plenty of times without a visa.

I wish I was a crow....I thought....and I was back in the crowd...

I dont know why it takes so long to pull down a flag...it should be a 5 minute thing. But solidiers keep marching from here to there to prove...I dont know what.

Later...when the ceremony finished...I joined the gang which gathers at the gate to look at the other side. To see how people 'look' on the other side. And they are shooed away later.

I was also curious to know ...how the other side looks like.

All people had left and all I could see was pet water bottles everywhere. Hundreds of patriots...who shouted patriotic slogans for more than an hour...left that place with hundreds of bottles, biscuit and chips wrappers. It hurt me a lot.

I didnt know...how to react...after all i was all enthusiastic about coming and seeing that ceremony.

The sun was setting and there were still as couple of people who had come out of that space but were looking at a clearning where you could see the Pakistani fence. There were such enthusiasts on the other side as well.

And I came back thinking about the crow...which flew across the border....'Manto ka kauwa' ...I would call that crow.

And...for once I wished...this tamaasha needs to stop...before any other peace initiative between the countries. Because not only is it a tamaasha...but it is a full fledged training programme in spreading hatred about Pakistanis to one and all.

May this tamaasha stop.

The title of this post is inspired from Manto's famous story 'Tetval ka kutta' which I remember as 'Manto ka kutta'