For decades, soldiers at the border between Attari, India, and Wagah, Pakistan, have staged an elaborate military ceremony for onlookers.
that border designs “embed their own political imaginaries.” In other words, they tell their own versions of history—and express ideas about a nation’s future. I see the Wagah border post in this way. It does not encapsulate the meaning of the entire Indo-Pakistani border. Rather, it is a place to imagine otherwise.
The best part of the ceremony is when the gates open and the Indian and Pakistani soldiers, in their plumed turbans, meet and shake hands. That’s when you realize they must have choreographed and practiced the whole ceremony together. Despite the nationalist fervor in the air, the stadium is also a rare space where crowds of Indian and Pakistani civilians can come face to face.
In the stands, people are cheering. They are also getting drinks and adjusting themselves and tending to children. This ceremony has been going on for decades, with only a few pauses when tensions between the two nations have been particularly high. Even after In the end, it is not cultural or even political difference that is enacted at the Wagah border but a kind of bridge between the two countries. It’s a reminder of how one colonial history creates two hostile nation-states; after all, the beating retreat ceremony. But in its present-day incarnation, the ceremony is also a surprisingly enjoyable farce, enacted again and again for thousands of spectators, connecting both sides.
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