Wagah border ceremony

The Wagah village, a point on the India-Pakistan border in between Lahore and Amritsar, has been the site of an elaborate flag-lowering ceremony since 1959.  Its been written about extensively, posted on you tube... and seeing it in person lived up to my expectations: it was spirited, comic, somewhat ridiculous, very interesting.

The most noticeable thing was the display of the soldiers... their exaggerated marches and posturing reminicsent of roosters.  Despite their mirror-image marching side-by-side, the Indian and Pakistani soldiers didn't really interact with each other.  No handshakes or anything... just stomping and chest-puffing within two feet of each other, while ignoring each other.  Though they had obviously worked together to choreograph the routine.  Our hosts in Lahore said that if you go during non-ceremony hours, you can see the Indian Border Security Force guys and the Pakistani Rangers sitting around having tea together and stuff.  And in general, in recent years, the border has been a symbol of the possibility of amity... there is trade (since 2005), and business conducted between the two border offices.

Besides that, I was struck (but not surprised) by the content of the cheers.  There were 3 common ones, one secular, two religious:

• Pakistan Zindabad! (long live Pakistan)
• Nara-e-Takbir!  Allah-hu-Akbar!  (The greatest slogan!  God is great!)
• Pakistan ka matlab kya?  La ilaha illalah.  (What does Pakistan mean?  There is no God but Allah)

Not sure what was being said on the Indian side, but my guess is there was more "Jai Hind" than religious anything.  

Also noteworthy, but not surprising: men and women on the Pakistan side were in separate sections.  Except in the VIP sections... if you're rich and/or connected, then mixing genders is ok.  The Indian crowd was much larger than the Pakistani crowd-- I'm told they have actual programming, like dances and stuff.  On both sides, the atmosphere was like a party, very happy and loud.  Pictures here.