India-Pakistan Border

Yesterday we went to witness one of the more bizarre political/social events I have ever seen. Every day, when the border between Pakistan and India is closed for the night, there is a competition between India and Pakistan for who can round up the most spectators and put on the biggest show. There are actually concrete bleacher built on both sides to seat the crowds who come. These pictures are all from the India side of the border, but although there were fewer people on the Pakistani side, the uniforms were equally as splendid and the roars from the crowd as loud. The whole event was a blend of calls of nationalistic pride, a mosh pit rave and the changing the guard at Buckingham Palace. There were crowd pleasing chants reminiscent of the cheerleading at football games, with one man on India's side leading "Long live Hindustan" while the other side tried to drown the crowd out by shouting "Long live Pakistan. Women and children were invited from the crowd to carry flags to the border and back (interesting that no men were allowed. This is the first time I have seen women given a privileged spot, and I wonder if it is because there is concern about what testosterone might spark if the men come face to face across the border. Then the music began to blare and the women and children began to dance in the street that leads to the border, almost a mosh pit rave. Finally the guards themselves came out to close the border, the Indian and Pakistani guards in an obviously choreographed display of fierceness, with very showy marching, music, high stepping and a ceremony that brought the two flags down exactly at the same time. Then the gates were closed for the night, and the truckers lined up on either side of the border settled down to drink chai, gossip with each other and sleep in their cabs until the border opens again in the morning. It's hard to believe that this circus happens every day with hundreds of people showing up on both sides, but we're told it does. Perhaps this event diffuses some of the tensions that this region has been steeped in since the partition in the 1940s. Can you imagine an event like this at the US/Canadian border?