India and Pakistan, Hindus and Muslims: all very interlocked, sensitive subject matters. Coming to India I was aware of the tension that existed between India and Pakistan as well as between Hindus and Muslims and I never intended to write anything about the subject because, to be frank, it's really hard and there are many, many vested opinions from those who have personal ties to these issues while I have none. After visiting the India and Pakistan (Wagah) Border it became inevitable that I at least mention it. So here we go, first a brief introduction to the subject then the fun stuff.
*DISCLAIMER*- I do not side with either Pakistan or India. I wish to remain neutral as a 3rd party viewer. I am respectful to the opinions of all surrounding these issues and as a student I simply wish to learn from these experiences. I, in no way, want to offend anyone or cause any strife for the personal views expressed below.
After the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 the largest human migration in history occurred when 14 million Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims relocated to the country most hospitable their religion. The tension between the India and Pakistan as well as Hindus and Muslims have clear parallels and persist almost 60 years after the creation of Pakistan. Almost everyone I have had the courage to formally ask their opinions about Indian and Pakistani relations has given me a politically correct answer. The majority of people (who are Hindu) have said they don’t mind Pakistan’s existence and they don’t hate Muslims but they don’t want to spend an excessive amount of time with them. If you’re just analyzing the progression of relations between the two, at least on the Indian side based solely on formal interview responses, you may find that considerable steps have been made in the relationship between the two. Although you may only discover those results from verbal responses, not from actions, behaviors, or casual remarks in an informal setting. Like I said previously, Indian citizens know the politically correct response when asked about Pakistan and Muslims alike but their actions reveal their true feelings. Obviously this is true to all humans. When asked about a sensitive issue especially regarding ethinicity, race, or religion people tend to respond logically and politely but when evaluated by their actions or casual comments their true opinions are revealed. A Hindu may actively avoid Muslim businesses, Muslim partners while entering the dating pool, Muslim arranged marriage candidates, and any prolonged relationship/interaction with a Pakistani citizen. The same can be seen from Muslims on their views concerning Indians and Hindus. My trip in the Punjab, one of the two states split in the creation of Pakistan, at the Wagah border and experience in the mountains of Jammu & Kashmir has shown me complexity of relations between Hindustan and Pakistan.
Wagah Border
The second highlight of my time in Amritsar, besides the Golden Temple, was the Wagah Border. Amritsar is 30 km away from Pakistan and the nearest town on the Pakistani side is Lahore, 25 km from the border. Every day at 4:30 guards on both sides perform a closing of the gates ceremony. This is more of a theatrical event but it rallies deep rooted patriotism on both sides. This performance is open to the public, but my host family was able to secure VIP seats as to avoid being crammed with the massive crowd in stadium seats. Here's what we would have had to sit in for a solid 2 hours if we weren't able to get VIP passes so I'm thankful everything worked out the way it did:
*DISCLAIMER*- I do not side with either Pakistan or India. I wish to remain neutral as a 3rd party viewer. I am respectful to the opinions of all surrounding these issues and as a student I simply wish to learn from these experiences. I, in no way, want to offend anyone or cause any strife for the personal views expressed below.
After the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 the largest human migration in history occurred when 14 million Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims relocated to the country most hospitable their religion. The tension between the India and Pakistan as well as Hindus and Muslims have clear parallels and persist almost 60 years after the creation of Pakistan. Almost everyone I have had the courage to formally ask their opinions about Indian and Pakistani relations has given me a politically correct answer. The majority of people (who are Hindu) have said they don’t mind Pakistan’s existence and they don’t hate Muslims but they don’t want to spend an excessive amount of time with them. If you’re just analyzing the progression of relations between the two, at least on the Indian side based solely on formal interview responses, you may find that considerable steps have been made in the relationship between the two. Although you may only discover those results from verbal responses, not from actions, behaviors, or casual remarks in an informal setting. Like I said previously, Indian citizens know the politically correct response when asked about Pakistan and Muslims alike but their actions reveal their true feelings. Obviously this is true to all humans. When asked about a sensitive issue especially regarding ethinicity, race, or religion people tend to respond logically and politely but when evaluated by their actions or casual comments their true opinions are revealed. A Hindu may actively avoid Muslim businesses, Muslim partners while entering the dating pool, Muslim arranged marriage candidates, and any prolonged relationship/interaction with a Pakistani citizen. The same can be seen from Muslims on their views concerning Indians and Hindus. My trip in the Punjab, one of the two states split in the creation of Pakistan, at the Wagah border and experience in the mountains of Jammu & Kashmir has shown me complexity of relations between Hindustan and Pakistan.
Wagah Border
The second highlight of my time in Amritsar, besides the Golden Temple, was the Wagah Border. Amritsar is 30 km away from Pakistan and the nearest town on the Pakistani side is Lahore, 25 km from the border. Every day at 4:30 guards on both sides perform a closing of the gates ceremony. This is more of a theatrical event but it rallies deep rooted patriotism on both sides. This performance is open to the public, but my host family was able to secure VIP seats as to avoid being crammed with the massive crowd in stadium seats. Here's what we would have had to sit in for a solid 2 hours if we weren't able to get VIP passes so I'm thankful everything worked out the way it did:
We ended up sitting maybe 20-30 feet from the gates and so we were able to see, up close, the Indian soldiers doing their high kicks and flexing their muscles, basically peacocking to the Pakistani soldiers as they reciprocated more high kicks and fierce moves.
Upon entering the border there were several security checks. In the past there have been a few attempted attacks to bomb the other side from India and Pakistan alike. At the first check, which took the longest, we were seperated into lines based upon gender and padded down while a fat and happy Labrador sniffed our car for any undesirable weaponry. The men's line was super quick and efficient, being padded down in the open. The women's on the other hand was gruesomely slow. There was a temporary curtain cover which women entered and were padded down and women wearing saris (there were a lot) were required to unwrap their saris which took FOREVER. So after that stop we climbed back in the car drove as far down as we could were padded down again, more quickly this time, then walked to our seats.
Approaching the arena? road? whatever you want to call it we were able to see the Pakistan arena? road? and their set up was so similar to India’s it was essentially the same. Both sides were showing off to each other and the rivalry between the two was extremely evident. Both had stadium seating with a huge arc over the road in the far back, a VIP section closest to the gas on their side of the road, and a large portrait of their national hero mounted on the road arc. On India's side it was Mahatma Gandhi and Pakistan's it was Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Along with the soldiers peacocking each other, showing off each side seemed to be doing the same in their set up as well. The Indian soldiers wore a khaki uniform and red turban hats with a large red fan on top and the Pakistani soldiers the same up in black and red. Both sides were playing patriotic songs on loud speakers and the crowds were singing along. You could even distinguish a discrepancy between the two crowds. The Indian crowd was colorful while the Pakistani crowd seemed to be wearing mainly neutral colors in traditional wear and was a majority male and whatever women were there wore headscarves.
Before the performance started we were able to "click" several selfies, take pictures with guards, and purchase all your desirable Indian paraphernalia. Ranjana and I decided to sport some fancy baseball caps with the Indian flag printed on the front. The funny thing about this whole set up between these two rival countries is that despite all of this going on you can easily see and interact with someone from the otherwise. Maybe not up close and personally but I was able to wave to the other side and several waves were reciprocated from people in the Pakistani stadium seats. Besides the feeling of nationalism emanating from both sides there was also a pretty hefty amount of curiosity and genuine wonder. There were definitely some people who were took the performance very literally, and chose to view the other side as the enemy, booing the other crowd but there was a large number of people how were genuinely interested in seeing people from the other side. It was really similar to two toddlers looking at each other and seeing confirming they both had 10 fingers and 10 toes, that they were the same. Maybe they were experiencing the, "OMG I can't believe it's real" effect I talked about in my last post but with another type of human being they had heard so many negative things about.
Upon entering the border there were several security checks. In the past there have been a few attempted attacks to bomb the other side from India and Pakistan alike. At the first check, which took the longest, we were seperated into lines based upon gender and padded down while a fat and happy Labrador sniffed our car for any undesirable weaponry. The men's line was super quick and efficient, being padded down in the open. The women's on the other hand was gruesomely slow. There was a temporary curtain cover which women entered and were padded down and women wearing saris (there were a lot) were required to unwrap their saris which took FOREVER. So after that stop we climbed back in the car drove as far down as we could were padded down again, more quickly this time, then walked to our seats.
Approaching the arena? road? whatever you want to call it we were able to see the Pakistan arena? road? and their set up was so similar to India’s it was essentially the same. Both sides were showing off to each other and the rivalry between the two was extremely evident. Both had stadium seating with a huge arc over the road in the far back, a VIP section closest to the gas on their side of the road, and a large portrait of their national hero mounted on the road arc. On India's side it was Mahatma Gandhi and Pakistan's it was Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Along with the soldiers peacocking each other, showing off each side seemed to be doing the same in their set up as well. The Indian soldiers wore a khaki uniform and red turban hats with a large red fan on top and the Pakistani soldiers the same up in black and red. Both sides were playing patriotic songs on loud speakers and the crowds were singing along. You could even distinguish a discrepancy between the two crowds. The Indian crowd was colorful while the Pakistani crowd seemed to be wearing mainly neutral colors in traditional wear and was a majority male and whatever women were there wore headscarves.
Before the performance started we were able to "click" several selfies, take pictures with guards, and purchase all your desirable Indian paraphernalia. Ranjana and I decided to sport some fancy baseball caps with the Indian flag printed on the front. The funny thing about this whole set up between these two rival countries is that despite all of this going on you can easily see and interact with someone from the otherwise. Maybe not up close and personally but I was able to wave to the other side and several waves were reciprocated from people in the Pakistani stadium seats. Besides the feeling of nationalism emanating from both sides there was also a pretty hefty amount of curiosity and genuine wonder. There were definitely some people who were took the performance very literally, and chose to view the other side as the enemy, booing the other crowd but there was a large number of people how were genuinely interested in seeing people from the other side. It was really similar to two toddlers looking at each other and seeing confirming they both had 10 fingers and 10 toes, that they were the same. Maybe they were experiencing the, "OMG I can't believe it's real" effect I talked about in my last post but with another type of human being they had heard so many negative things about.
When they were preparing for the closing of the gate to begin the guards ushered everyone off the street, including the large impromptu dance party, back to their seats. From where my family was sitting we were only able to see the Indian side of the performance, but from what little I saw the Pakistani side was doing the same thing just trying to do their high kicks higher. The start of the event was a little anti climatic. The soldiers went from milling about to standing at attention. No one was sure where to look but eventually a soldier came marching out of no where to meet the captain at the gate and salute him with lots of shouting in Hindi followed by a high kick routine. Two women soldiers then came power walking down the road, halting at the gate and shouting salutes and almost kicking each other in the face before standing off to the side at attention while several more similar performances happened at the gate. The gate was opened and the crowds jeered with excitement for being able to fully see the other side and the sensitivity of the situation. With the gate ajar the soldiers did their routines facing the opposing country, occasionally stopping to fix their turbans and flex their arm muscles rather narcissistically. The gate was finally aggressively, slammed shut on both sides after the lowering of both flags at the same rate and same height, together.
All in all it was a really cool performance. The irony of the whole situation was that in order to facilitate this massive production of country rivalry every day a good amount of communication is required between the two sides. Before the ceremony began guards from both sides were mingling in the in between area of their two gates going over last minute planning details. I would bet money, despite the love of country on both sides and their nations’ political feelings towards each other, those guards have come to find friendship and camaraderie.
Jammu & Kashmir
After reaching our final temple for our Hindu pilgrimage in Katra my family and I drove 3 hours away to Patnitop, an area in the mountains where people typically visit for its astounding views and isolation. One noticeable difference, as we were ascending to our destination, was the religious demographic change. Because we were closer to Pakistan the Muslim population had increased and there were more Muslim road side restaurants and hotels. In fact this was the first time I was seeing any proclaimed Muslim businesses in India. On the way up our 3 hour trip was extended for an additional 2 hours due to stand still traffic as we winded through the swerving roads in the mountains through small village towns. After a 5 hours in the car we were glad to reach our hotel and relax in the mountain weather which got down to 59 F!! It was a much needed break from the relentless heat and humidity in Indore.
The next morning we were planning to leave from Patnitop and drive 12 hours overnight to Chandigarh to catch our flight to Indore. Although, when we woke up all the roadside stands outside of our hotel were closed and the wifi in our hotel had been disabled. My host dad, noticing this was not normal, learned that the previous night a cow had been slaughtered and dumped in a temple in one of the villages 100 km away, one that we drove through the previous night. Cows are sacred holy symbols in Hinduism which is why they roam in abundance in India. Killing a cow is pretty awful in regards to Hinduism. In fact even hitting one accidentally with a car while driving can put the driver’s life in danger. This incident caused public outrage in the village and the local people closed down their town, hence the closed businesses, and were rioting/ going on strike, throwing stones at cars as they passed through.
We packed up and were driving down only to pull over and join the other trucks and busses waiting for the situation in the village to be controlled by the police. This period of waiting was a little confusing for me. There were several, I mean several police officers with really threatening guns walking around where we were waiting, the clamor in the village was not visible or audible, and no one was allowed to pass through. My though process was, there was surely enough police and man power to stop a small population from stoning cars, but they don’t seem to be doing anything. My family had considered driving through shouting, “Jai Mata Di!” (Hindu goddess name) and showing the red threads we had recently received from our temple visits - markers of our Hindu faith and indication that we were on the same side as the protestors. This idea was eventually refused when we came to understand that the protests were not merely religious but were also housing political elements when we were denied passage by the police. After a little over an hour of stagnant waiting we were allowed back into our cars and we started our slow trek behind 18 wheelers down the steep, treacherous mountain roads. As we were making our way down the mountain we tried to keep a look out for where the locals were throwing stones and rioting, but there was no indication that anything at all had happened. My host dad explained the reason it took so long for us to pass was probably because the police were clearing the area of evidence, not struggling to control the situation like we originally thought. My family said these acts of religious conflicts between Hindus and Muslims were not uncommon, especially in the sensitive area were were in, and that the government did not typically report such small scale events. The Indian government worked to make sure that these crimes were not reported. The wifi and phone signal were suspending in the area to prevent live tweeting or reporting and we weren’t allowed passage so we could not capture any evidence of what happened.
Obviously every country sensors the media to some extent. We are all guilty of warped, biased reporting. The reason this was so shocking to me was because this was the first time I had ever been personally connected to or so literally affected by this censorship. I understand the motives in concealing this event because the work put into keeping those two religious groups is immense and could revert to it’s original state of frustration and mass anger easily with a rally cry similar to what happened in this mandir with the cow. I understand not reporting this event, but I also understand the vitality of maintaining a transparent system of information transfer and the importance of being educated on current issues that do and don’t involve you.
Religious conflict between Muslims and Hindus is hard and runs deep in the veins of many in India, Pakistan, and those around the world. I have nothing like this at home that I could parallel it to to better understand it, and living through it with families and people has been the best way to begin to hit the tip of the iceberg of understanding.
We packed up and were driving down only to pull over and join the other trucks and busses waiting for the situation in the village to be controlled by the police. This period of waiting was a little confusing for me. There were several, I mean several police officers with really threatening guns walking around where we were waiting, the clamor in the village was not visible or audible, and no one was allowed to pass through. My though process was, there was surely enough police and man power to stop a small population from stoning cars, but they don’t seem to be doing anything. My family had considered driving through shouting, “Jai Mata Di!” (Hindu goddess name) and showing the red threads we had recently received from our temple visits - markers of our Hindu faith and indication that we were on the same side as the protestors. This idea was eventually refused when we came to understand that the protests were not merely religious but were also housing political elements when we were denied passage by the police. After a little over an hour of stagnant waiting we were allowed back into our cars and we started our slow trek behind 18 wheelers down the steep, treacherous mountain roads. As we were making our way down the mountain we tried to keep a look out for where the locals were throwing stones and rioting, but there was no indication that anything at all had happened. My host dad explained the reason it took so long for us to pass was probably because the police were clearing the area of evidence, not struggling to control the situation like we originally thought. My family said these acts of religious conflicts between Hindus and Muslims were not uncommon, especially in the sensitive area were were in, and that the government did not typically report such small scale events. The Indian government worked to make sure that these crimes were not reported. The wifi and phone signal were suspending in the area to prevent live tweeting or reporting and we weren’t allowed passage so we could not capture any evidence of what happened.
Obviously every country sensors the media to some extent. We are all guilty of warped, biased reporting. The reason this was so shocking to me was because this was the first time I had ever been personally connected to or so literally affected by this censorship. I understand the motives in concealing this event because the work put into keeping those two religious groups is immense and could revert to it’s original state of frustration and mass anger easily with a rally cry similar to what happened in this mandir with the cow. I understand not reporting this event, but I also understand the vitality of maintaining a transparent system of information transfer and the importance of being educated on current issues that do and don’t involve you.
Religious conflict between Muslims and Hindus is hard and runs deep in the veins of many in India, Pakistan, and those around the world. I have nothing like this at home that I could parallel it to to better understand it, and living through it with families and people has been the best way to begin to hit the tip of the iceberg of understanding.