Patriotic Passions - Beating the Retreat  Border Ceremony

       After the visit to Jallianwala Bagh, with patriotic feelings aroused, we set off for the Attari border to witness the lowering of the flags ceremony known as Beating the Retreat Border Ceremony. (This is the usual itinerary of all tourists to Amritsar).

       We reached Attari border well in time. There was not much of a crowd. We quickly alighted from our cab and were immediately surrounded by young men who offered to paint the tri-colour on us. They would not take a ‘No, thanks’ from us. ‘Maaji, border aake, tiranga nahi lagyenge?’ The incredulity in their voice at such unheard of attitude, made us feel most unpatriotic. We needed little cajoling to give in to them and get the tiranga painted on our faces and hands. After collecting their fees they thanked us and said,” Hum to aap tourist log se hi kamma sakthe hai, Pakistaniyon se tho nahi.” Such kind of dialogue right from the parking lot, adds to the patriotic passions being aroused among the tourists.

       We then went and stood in line to enter through the gate to walk to the border (It is about 1 km away from the gate). Men and women were asked to form separate lines. Being an army area, the jawans manning the gates, were very particular that we form straight lines. If anyone, moved even the teeniest bit out of line, immediately we would hear the order ‘Line me khade ho jaao’ barked out. One man, in great patriotic fervor, had brought with him a huge flag, on a quite a long pole. It must have been pretty heavy, because he kept lowering it and resting it on the ground, causing the flag to touch the ground. Every time this happened, the command  ‘Flag ooncha karo, jameen ko math lagana’ was heard. We proceeded to the border with a series of security checks. We were not allowed to take any bag, not even a handbag, in. We could take  only that which we could carry in our hands. Not realizing this, I had carried my camera, mobile and wallet in a small cloth batua. Since I could not take in the cloth bag, Ushakka folded it and put it in the pocket of her jacket. I gave my wallet to Mohan to put in his jacket pocket. At every check point, he was asked why he had two wallets and he had to repeat the explanation every time. Slowly, we moved forward through three barriers with their security checks and reached the exact point of Indo-Pak border.

       The ceremony takes place at the border on the Grand Trunk Road. Galleries had been constructed on either side of the road. There were similar galleries on the Pakistan side too. There is just an ordinary wall with three iron gates to demarcate the two nations. One gate is on the Indian border, one on the Pakistani border and one sliding gate in between the two borders, on no man’s land. The flags of both the nations were flying in this area. 

Gate opened for the bus  

 The seating area was separated into VIP area (comfortable chairs), VIP gallery, and gallery for the general public. We went and sat down in the general public area. As we watched, the place started filling up. And very soon there were at least two –three thousand spectators, including international tourists. We could see a huge crowd, though not as many as on the Indian side, across the border too.  While we were waiting, an officer came round, saw us and told one of the soldiers to take us to the VIP gallery. So we got good seats and could view the entire ceremony from close up. (Advantages of being senior citizens)

       At about 3.00pm, we noticed quite a number of people, men and women, accompanied by porters with baggage, walking towards the gates. The gates opened, and they crossed over to Pakistan and similarly, people from the other side walked into India.  Most of the people were aged, visiting their relatives on either side of the border. Among them was a young couple with a baby walking into India. May be they were visiting the family members who had stayed behind in India. We also saw the Sada-e-Sarhad (passenger bus service)  going from Delhi to Lahore.

    At about 5.00pm, the ceremony began. This ceremony of jointly lowering of the flags by the Border Security Force (India) and the Pakistan Rangers takes place every evening at sunset. It has been followed since 1959.. It is symbolic of the two countries rivalry, as well as friendship and cooperation.

      The ceremony on either side starts with a prayer over the public address system (kept at a very high volume). Then patriotic songs from films are played. There is an MC on either side egging on the spectators to shout out patriotic slogans. The MC mimes that the shouts are not loud enough and that the Pakistanis are louder than us. After a while, the MC called upon young women to come forward and stand in a line. He had two flags with him He handed them to two of the women and asked them to run up to the border and back with the flags. We were so caught up in this passionate display of patriotism that we too stepped forward and ran with the national flag and were heartily cheered by the crowd

 

      The actual ceremony starts just before sunset, with quite an aggressive parade by soldiers from both the sides. The drill is characterized by complicated and brisk dance like exercises which have been described as ‘colourful’. One infantry man stands at attention on each side of the gate. As the sun sets, the iron gates at the border are opened and the flags of both the nations are lowered simultaneously in perfect coordination. The flags are folded and the ceremony ends with a retreat that includes a brisk handshake between soldiers from either side, followed by the closing of the gates.

      Slowly we walked back to the car park after this rousing ceremony. The image that stayed in my mind was not that of the parade but of people, especially the young couple with an infant, crossing the border. The whole exercise brought out the truth of Javed Akthar’s lyric

       Panchi, nadiya, pawan ke jonkhe, koi sarhad na inko rokthe,

       Sarhad insaano ke liye, socho tumne aur maine kya paya insaan hoke.