- FOGG Odyssey

Great Indian Railway Challenge: Day 05 (Border Ceremony)

Posted on February 26th, 2011

A soldiers highly shined belt buckle. Their uniforms were spotless!

We left Dwarka to head north towards Amritsar on a 13+ hour long train ride. We arrived and checked into a hotel early afternoon, sharing 3 rooms between all of us. Some quickly took showers, others wanted to eat, as we only had a short amount of time before we had to meet back up and take the bus to the border of Pakistan and India, called The Wagah border.

Since 1959, every evening on the border there is a ceremony called “lowering of the flags” which both countries preform a military display of might against each other. Pakistani Rangers are dressed in blue, India’s Border Security Forces are in brown and both have turbines with large fans attached to the top. It’s somewhat funny to watch, as each side takes it very serious to out march the other with speed goose-stepping and high kicks to finish. The 45 minute choreographed ceremony used to be pretty wild 10 years ago but they have calmed it down some since then and made it less aggressive towards each other.

One thing to be noted about this event from the Indian side is the size of the soldiers. They have to be at least 6’4″ or higher I would say to be able to perform the ceremony. Some of these guys are Sikhs, who pretty much are as badass as you can get. These guys know how to fight and have a reputation for being Indians supreme hardcore warriors because of their fierceness on the battlefield and size. But it’s not just limited to the Sikhs as Indians from all over, if they meet the standards, can represent in the ceremony.

The best part of this event to me was the vibe of it. Walking up to the border you will first see all the vendors selling popcorn, candies, drinks to small Indian flags. It almost felt like going to a football game or something. Once you get inside it’s stadium seating with the Indian women sitting in one section, the male Indians in another section and a VIP section for foreigners and some locals with access. It’s the same way on the Pakistan side as well. Each side is playing loud music, as Pakistan sounded like they had a club going-on on their side while Indian played a little bit more traditional music. Women were allowed to come down from the stands and dance in the main road as well. They even let women carry 3 large Indian flags from the main gate to the border gate and back. Everyone was cheering and yelling while they waited for the event to start.

I wish I could say I seen the whole thing but to be honest it’s kind of hard to see both sides, as most of the madness is between the gates with the soldiers, which is hard for most to see because you sit on one side and it blocks your view because so. I had no clue what was going on the whole time but it was entertaining and should not be missed if you are in the area, as it’s becoming a tourist hot-spot and a national pride for India

Notes:

Ceremony happens every evening and starts at around 5:30pm. Best to arrive an hour early to make sure you get a good seat.
The ceremony is free entrance.
No bags are allowed inside and I mean none! Purses, backpacks, camera cases exc will not be allowed in but you can get away with a fanny-pack though, as long as it’s small. There is a stand before the entry point that will hold onto your bag (for charge) if you trust it but best advise is to leave it at your hotel room before you leave.
If you are a foreigner, you can access the VIP seating but you will need your passport for identification.
No smoking. They even make you throw your cigarettes away before you enter, so leave those at your hotel to, along with the bag.
No food or drinks. So don’t load up to much while waiting in line, as you’ll just have to throw it away to enter.
Expect to be checked several times when entering. The ceremony is a huge target area and security is high because so.
Only stand during the event when others do because if you do, security will quickly blow a whistle at you to sit down.