The best thing we have seen in India!

  Wahga, Punjab, Pakistan Friday, August 29, 2014

WOW! What can we say? We had heard this was worth seeing but we never made it here last time we were in India 3 years ago. So a must for our list this time and are we glad we did. Wagha is the Pakistan border town closest to Amritsar and it took us about 35 minutes in a car to get there. We had hired a car and driver for this trip for the mega price of £7.50. That's for 2 of us not each! We arrived at 4:30pm an our driver pointed in the direction of the Pakistan border. Off we walked about 1km in that direction with the very busy flow of other peopleWe really didn't know what to expect as it is an international border. When we got there it really was a proper border with security, customs and border guards with machine guns. We had been warned to make sure we had our passports with us but beyond a quick pat down and a flash of burgandy passport cover, no further checks were made. we never even opened our passport. To be fair though, we didn't look like Indians and there were only one or two other whiteys dotted around so we were easy to spot. This ceremony is a real spectator event that happens every day and proper spectator stands have been built in both India and Pakistan to house them We have to say though that we think Pakistan have been a bit over optimistic about how many spectators they will have as most of their stands were empty. India on the other hand could have filled their seat twice over there were thousands gathered. A bit of background now about the ceremony for those of you who are interested; This ceremony takes place every evening before sunset at the Wagah border, which as part of the Grand Trunk Road was the only road link between these two countries before the opening of another further north in 1999The Wagah border closing 'lowering of the flags' ceremony or The Beating Retreat ceremony is a daily military practice that the security forces of India and Pakistan have jointly followed since 1959. It is all done in the spirit on neighbourly friendliness and seems to be a good way of keeping the peace between these two countries.(Maybe Scotland and England will have something similar if they vote to split! who knows :-) The ceremony starts with a blustering parade by the soldiers from both the sides, and ends up in the perfectly coordinated lowering of the two nations' flags. It is called the beating retreat border ceremony on the international level. One soldier stands at attention on each side of the gate. As the sun sets, the iron gates at the border are opened and the two flags are lowered simultaneously. The flags are folded and the ceremony ends with a retreat that involves a brusque handshake between soldiers from either side, followed by the closing of the gates again.  So we took our seats high in the stands for whiteys and fairly close to the border gates. So close that we could see Pakistan on the other side and it's a shame but they didn't seem to be having as much fun as we were. It was extremely hot in the stands and we soon finished the water we had taken with us. But never fear this is India - never a missed sales opportunity and the sellers were out in force selling caps, fans, water, coke and popcorn - a real family outingOn the Indian side they were playing very loud Bollywood style songs and they had a sort of compare who really whooped the crowd up with cheering and clapping. It was like being at a concert, it was fabulous. Then we looked to Pakistan and they were sitting there quietly listening to what sounded like mosque music. Boring! Then the Indian compare arranged a long line of young girls and children and handed them Indian flags. They took these and two at a time they ran the 100 yards to the border gates, waved the flag at Pakistan and ran back again handing the flags to the next in line. What a great way to involve people. None of it was aggressive and by using girls and children we doubt it would be seen as threatening. So then to a massive cheer, Jai Ho came over the speakers and all the girls and women were up dancing (the men seem to be kept in their seats behind a barrier here) it was a fantastic atmosphere (watch the video when we get it finished and you will see what we mean).We again looked over to Pakistan and they seemed a lot less cheerful. We are sure the cheers we could hear were part of the soundtrack played over the speakers as the crowd didn't seem to be making those noises) Then the ceremony started properly and it was difficult to see what was happening on the other side but the Indian Border Guards were leaping and high kicking through the air it was a real display. There was lots of gesturing and when the guards went to the border and gave what was basically an 'up yours' gesture the crowd went wild - we had never seen anything like it. All the high kicking and stomping was performed in time to a drum which they had positioned on a roof top opposite where we were sitting. The gates were opened and closed again a few minutes later, then after more stomping, kicking and gesturing, they opened again and we had a bit more facing off and "up yoursing" they started to lower the flags accompanied by a last post type fanfare on a trumpet. The Indian Flag was then brought back through to the Indian side and soon the gates closed again for the last time. The crowd surged down to the border as everyone wanted their photos taken with the border guards but they did look good in their hats. Bryan got his photo taken too and it's only then you realise how tall they are. A giant race amongst Indian people. Maybe if you are born tall here, this becomes your destiny :-) Anyway we had just the best time and it really was one of the best things we have seen anywhere in India. If you ever come here you really have to make sure this is on your list of things to do [gallery columns="4" ids="8091,8093,8099,8102,8105,8111,8117,8122,8129,8133,8137,8146,8154,8161,8170,8175,8181,8192,8198,8205,8209,8212,8216,8220,8224,8229,8236,8241,8243,8246,8250,8252,8256,8260,8265,8267,8268,8270,8273,8274,8276,8280,8282,8284,8288,8290"]