Sunday, March 7, 2010

Borders Abroad


Growing up in Kottayam, a small town down south of India, I was kilometers away from the nearest border post with Pakistan but was never too far from the emotional shelling that happened every morning when news was discussed at the breakfast table and at playgrounds. We celebrated war movies, cried together when we lost a cricket match and silently swore to kill them all when ever a jawan came home from kashmir in a coffin. For me, patriotism went hand in hand with an underlying hatred for Pakistan and Pakistanis. I know hate is a harsh word but I would never have shared a meal with a Pakistani during my growing up years. To me ,Pakistan was in another planet .
Years later, living in another city, I now know that there is a Punjab in Pakistan along with Sindh and Balochistan. Now that I have friends from the other side, I have no qualms about sharing a meal with Most of the time, I mean it when I say "Bhai Jaan". Lahore is now just another city I can look up friends in, if I ever went there. I don't really mind when they call me "Hindi" behind my back because I identify more "Hindi " than being called a "Malabari".
The way I look at things now, there isn't much difference between us and them, if we forget what we assume and what we were told about each other. They like SRK and we like Junoon, they are mad about cricket as we are, and we always cheer for their team unless, of course, they are playing us, don't we ?
Of course, there is that invisible thin line that separates us in all ascpects of life out here ( we seldom watch cricket together, we don't talk about the wars and we never share accommodation). As the saying goes, good fences make good neighbours.

20 comments:

:) said...

It's Humanism! :) i love this post.

Soin said...

a non prejudiced human is impossible.so this is the best we can do i guess..free

Sid said...

I agree there is not much difference between the civilians from both the countries.. same culture, history etc... but sadly along the line we have forgotten to live and more importantly to let live.

Good post :)

COMMUNI said...

Loved what you wrote.

Although, I never hated Pakistanis, not even in my kid days. I used to sympathise the cricket team when they lost to us. I donno why I was like that, but I was right. Its just the same people all over the world and a few narrow-minded people who don't want the world to unite.

Just as you said, we are all human beings separated by imaginary fence, even in the heart. Lets just pray for the betterment of humanity.

S said...

They are as human as we are :)

Insignia said...

Those thin invisible line is what has created so many issues between the two countries.

Sorcerer said...

YOu got valid point buddy
and I agree with that line

"good fences make good neighbours"

Hari Nandakumar said...

Your post seems to be a great topic which is of social importance.Good

Anonymous said...

Great post, thought provoking.

Anonymous said...

Hm hm.. that's very interessting but frankly i have a hard time seeing it... wonder what others have to say..

COMMUNI said...

Hey you've been tagged.

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People

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my dads name

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Neither

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Money

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6
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Rainy season

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I use orkut

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Shoot them

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Heights

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I have no mirror in my room.

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The pic of my dog.

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sir

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Mallu mom to new born child

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Stimulus said...

Quite interesting...

I always thought this sort of "hatred" was exaggerated by the media, and only focused within certain families/areas... Never knew it was THIS BIG!!

I'm glad you're not the same anymore, but I'd love to get an even deeper idea of the differences, or rather the aspects that create different viewpoints, from both sides (i.e. India and Pakistan).

Tomz said...

inevitable results of the painful events of the history

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Neha said...

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In your followers list now :)

Destiny's child said...

Love the post!
At the end of the day, we are all just different colours of the canvas called the world, isn't it? :)

scarlet pimpernel said...

@Neha
Thanks for your kind words and thanks for following me ;-)

@ Destinys Child

Hey thats a new angle ..personally i would like to think of myself as blue ..whats your colour ?