Wagah Border of India and Pakistan

The spectacle at the Wagah border crossing point between India and Pakistan is an opportunity for the nationals of the two countries to show their patriotism. Some do that by screaming slogans against each others while others, like an Indian girl above, by dancing in the tunes of Bollywood numbers. Here I present photos and video from one such occasion. All pics by DW

Indians have fenced the border with Pakistant pretty thoroughly. An armed guard was heard as saying this to a visitor: “We will shoot anyone if we see them approaching the fenses.”

Spectators have to pass through frisking. The list of things not allowed is long.

You can scream against Pakistan as much as you want but don’t carry plastic bags!

A Hong Kong tourist heads for the spactacle at the boder

Wagah is also a broder crossing point between India and Pakistan.

The crowd on the Indian side is huge while there were only handful of people on the pakistani side.

Apart from the spactatle itself, these guards with colorful caps are the major attraction

This spactatle at the Indo-Pak border attracts a lot of toursts visiting Amritsar.

The absurdity of the whole event could be felt when people from both sides display their flags as if they were challenging the other side and scream slogans lionizing and demonizing each others countries.

But for tourists who don’t understand Hindi or Urdu the whole thing is a total fun. For me who understood Hindi and Urdu but couldn’t associate with both sides it was a fake event created to generate unnecessary nationalistic feeling among citizenry

It was very hot but that didn’t discourage this guard from performing his duty

He is tall so he is qualified for the job 🙂

Security guards are photo-materials for tourists

People on the Indian side were seen dancing in the tunes of Bollywood nationalistic numbers played loudly on the Indian side. Pakistanis also played loud music. It was confusing.

Dance is a way of expressing nationalistic feeling here at Wagah.

On the Pakistani side was a small crowd, mostly of men. I didn’t see woman on that side. Or may be I did…wearing burqa

And silly scream?

Border guards from two countires exchange polite-yet-agressive kicks as part of the ceremony!

An important part of the event includes taking flags off the poles.

On the Indian side

A paradox perhaps. They organize a ceremony daily hoping to increase harmony between two countries but these fences are the reality.