Wagah lies just 30 km from Amritsar and is the only overland border crossing point between Pakistan and India. During the last few weeks in India, we have been near to the Pakistani border and decided it was time to get a closer look.
Every evening, the border between Pakistan and India closes to traffic, flags are lowered, and official gates are sealed. This simple act is accompanied by a pompous ceremony where both sides try to out-do one another in silly marches and lengthy yells into a microphone. The ceremony is so preposterous (and popular) that grandstands have been built on both sides of the border so people can come and watch. They come in throngs - waving flags, cheering on their own soldiers, and shouting patriotically.
We were lucky enough to get into the foreigner section of the grandstands on the Indian side so had a really good view of Pakistan and the ceremony itself.
The whole ceremony lasts under an hour but is well worth the drive out to the border. It was the best free entertainment we have seen in a long time and reminded Jo of many a Monty Python sketch. Here's a (shaky) video we took of some of the action:
Lastly, does anyone see the irony here?
Next stop, Dharamsala.
I'm glad you included the short video. That conveys the atmosphere better than anything. Monty Python is an apt comparison.
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Dad/Norm
So interesting. Had no idea about the "entertainment" at that border. Definitely funny. The "take a picture of the white people" story in your previous post was also quite amusing. I had the opposite experience while in India. Apparently I looked Punjabi and many locals were stunned when they heard me speak and realized I was American. Crazzzzzzzzy.
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