My second full day in India arrived, and already I had made it to the border of Pakistan. A popular attraction for both Indian and international tourists is to attend the flag lowering ceremony that occurs daily at the Wagah Border, located 30 kilometers west of Amritsar. Since 1959 millions of Indians have frequented the spot, as it is said to be the only road border between the two countries and the only border crossing area which maintains this kind of peaceful display of citizenship. Alisa and I joined an Indian family of five in a shared van to reach the vicinity of the border, with roughly an hour to spare before the ceremony began.
We followed alongside thousands of others for a few kilometers through various disjointed security checkpoints, and were relieved when we arrived near the event stadium and officials ushered us and the few other foreign visitors to a separate section with an enhanced view of both the Indian and Pakistan sides. (As an aside, this was after experiencing a not entirely unfounded fear of being trampled to death by Indian aunties on foot and border security officials on horse, all of whom must have forgotten their manners at the Golden Temple).
Inside the stadium, we witnessed India’s Border Security Force perform exercises, we chanted patriotic slogans (Hindustan zindabad! Long live India), sang along with popular Indian music to include a massive “Jai Ho” sing and dance-off, and watched children run the Indian flag to and from the border in a kind of informal relay race. “Children” should be loosely applied here, as it may or may not have become a participatory event thanks to Alisa’s peer pressure. The moment I joined the line, the guard handed me the flag of India and told me, "Go!" Only when I reached the border did I notice the man carrying an AK-47 to secure Pakistan from intruders. But this helped me to run the flag faster on the way back.
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