Wagha is currently the only road crossing from Pakistan into India. It is well-known for its daily flag-lowering ceremony and parade which takes place in the late afternoon on both the Pakistan and Indian sides of the border. Watching this parade has been yet another of my big travel dreams and it sure did not disappoint! It was every bit as hilarious as I have seen on telly.
Wagha is located a short 30 minutes drive from Lahore and after leaving Wagha on the Pakistan side, the nearest sizeable Indian city is Amritsar which is less than an hour away from the border. We arrived at the Pakistani side of Wagha around 4pm and walked through the last passport checkpoint (a stone arch manned by Pakistan rangers) to take our seat at the stands on both sides of the road which leads to India. Women enter the checkpoint via the left entrance and men via the right entrance of the arch. The road ends with a set of impressive green and gold metal gates emblazoned with the word "Pakistan". On the other side just a few steps away, are another set of impressive gates manned by the Indian border guards. Soonb, cold drinks and Pakistani flags are touted by young boys, and a few youths waving enormous Pakistani flags start shouting pro-Pakistan slogans like "Pakistan Zindabad" (Long Live Pakistan) or such; I suspect these are paid-for appearances... In the background, music is pumped out from the loudspeakers installed around the stands (patriotic songs I'm told) and the women soon start standing up, waving and clapping to the music like cheerleaders or fans at a rock concert. All of the stands are filled, mostly with locals, all colourfully dressed for a day outing.
Soon, men dressed in official green and white clothing (Pakistan colours) come out to start loosening the crowd. This is like the opening act in a concert. The men are beating their drums to a steady rhythmn or shouting slogans and motioning the crowds to follow. Finally, six Pakistan border guards come marching quickly down the checkpoint towards the metal gates, their arms swinging wildly to the rhythmn of the march. They are tall and fierce-looking,almost all moustached and bearded, dressed in a uniform of black, red and white with hats that have a large black fan-shaped plume (not unlike cockerels). And then the gates open on both sides of the border. On the Indian side, the border guards are clean-shaven and dressed in khaki with somewhat similar red and gold cockerol plume hats. Somehow the Indian guards look a bit less fierce perhaps because of the facial hair difference. (Check out the pics of the guards) The border guards at both sides of the border then start an elaborate choreography of fist-waving at the guards on the other side, and goose-stepping where the legs are brought up straight to the eye level (maybe the guards are ex-ballet dancers??). Obviously, the movements on both sides are well-matched and probably done with a slight smirk and a wink, although none that we could notice. I certainly don't know how the guards keep a straight face.
After around 30 minutes, the ceremony ends with a mutual flag-lowering and one Pakistani border guard brings the folded Pakistan flag back to the passport checkpoint arch and hands it to another guard. The ceremony ends and everyone gets down from the stands to start walking back through the checkpoint to their waiting cars or parked motorcycles or to catch a bus. By this time, the sun has started to set and everyone is all jolly and intoxicated from the party atmosphere. Unlike the Pakistanis that we've met so far who have been more reserved, many locals came up to us to ask for pictures to be taken of us, and with us. For a heady moment, this motley group of foreigners (english, NZ, australian, Croatian and Chinese) was the star of the show. This is not the time when I actually cross the border into India though; that is to come on another day.
