After a day of shopping and research, we gathered at the Wagah Border, sitting twenty feet from the India-Pakistan border.
I’ve witnessed the flag lowering ceremony a few times now and each time I leave feeling sad, more aware of social realities resultant from the historical facets so inherently portrayed in the ceremony and showing of bravado. As the guards on each side of the border engage in performance, marching quickly on their heels, stomping their boots, and throwing each other livid looks, I couldn’t help but smile at the remnants of British influence in India. How’s that old saying go, ‘you can take the British out of India but you can’t take the British out of Indian practices’.
If there was a highlight to the whole event, it was a small child behind us crying out ‘kill the Pakistanis’. This mentality – of ‘us’ and ‘them’ with little understanding of why – is the reason I don’t like coming here.
Happiness is capitalism?
Happiness via pluralism
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