Pakistan/India Border Closing

No, it's not a Monty Python sketch. It's a daily event, the ceremonial closing of the border between Pakistan and India.

And remember, both countries have nuclear weapons.
www.wimp.com...

i couldnt help cracking up!!!! this is great!!!....nuclear weapons you say?

I wish I was making a video of myself while watching that, because honestly I was laughing the whole time, that made my day. And the award for daily elaborate ceremony is a tie. Wow though, for real? daily? What a culture, the grandstanding and bug stomping I might wanna take in, in person some day thanks for that.

SaneThinking

reply to post by Phage


Better than the running of the bulls for show...

At least they shake hands at the end.

Peace

stupid Imperial dress makes them look so goofy and not hardcore at all. and the whole ceremony is just silly.

man... I want to grow that cool mustache. That was a+ It looked like he was smiling!

I wonder if anyone could track down the origins of the ceremony. The imperial influence is obvious but I don't think the British went in for the "ministry of silly walks" routine. Or did they?

Deeper roots?

Ummm...yeah... Still, I can see why it draws a crowd. I thought I'd seen most of the silly walks done by military forces but I think this one does take the biscuit. I thought one of them was going to burst into a Maori Haka at one point.
ETA Apparently they've been doing this since 1959.
Source

ETA2 Here's the youtube full BBC version with a slight explanation from a UK/Indian TV personality.

I thinks its a british inspired piece of native theatre.........
The Brits dropped this stuff off all around the world.......
Cool find though.....i still have tears in my eyes.......

I wonder if they train together for this. I mean, what if one raises leg higher then the guy on the other side of the border? Grave insult and missiles start flying...
Anyway, i wish that tension on the border would look just as weird all over the world and not in its traditional "dug in ready for war" variants.

Originally posted by Phage
No, it's not a Monty Python sketch. It's a daily event, the ceremonial closing of the border between Pakistan and India.

And remember, both countries have nuclear weapons.
www.wimp.com...

there is no way that is real, right?
"these strutting peacocks" laughing my butt off!


those guys put NFL cheerleaders and the rockettes to shame!!

Ah yes, ceremonial idiocy. Created because the overwhelming normal idiocy in daily life left desensitized many, leaving most feeling empty inside.

Originally posted by Phage
No, it's not a Monty Python sketch. It's a daily event, the ceremonial closing of the border between Pakistan and India.

And remember, both countries have nuclear weapons.
www.wimp.com...

To bad we cant settle our differences in that manner instead of warfare...

Nice post...


ETA - Wagah border crossing - India - Pakistan

Wagah (Punjabi (Gurmukhi): ਵਾਘਾ, Hindi: वाघा, Urdu: واہگہ) is the only road border crossing between Pakistan and India,[1] and lies on the Grand Trunk Road between the cities of Amritsar, Punjab, India and Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Wagah itself is a village through which the controversial Radcliffe Line was drawn. The village was divided by independence in 1947. Today, the eastern half of the village remains in the Republic of India while the western half is in Pakistan.

It is particularly known for the elaborate Wagah border ceremony that happens at the border before sunset each day.

Wagah Border closing ceremony

The Wagah (Punjabi: ਵਗਾਹ) border closing 'lowering of the flags' ceremony is a daily military practice that the security forces of India (Border Security Force) and Pakistan (Pakistan Rangers) have jointly followed since 1959.[1] This ceremony takes place every evening before sunset at the Wagah border, which as part of the Grand Trunk Road was the only road link between these two countries before the opening of the Aman Setu in Kashmir in 1999. The ceremony starts with a blustering parade by the soldiers from both the sides and ends up in the perfectly coordinated lowering of the two nations flags, it is called the beating retreat border ceremony on the international level. One infantryman (Jawan) stands at attention on each side of the gate. As the sun sets, the iron gates at the border are opened and the two flags are lowered simultaneously. The flags are folded and the ceremony ends with a retreat that involves a brusque handshake between soldiers from either side followed by the closing of the gates again. The spectacle of the ceremony attracts many visitors from both sides of the border, as well as international tourists.

In October 2010, Major General Yaqub Ali Khan of the Pakistan Rangers decided that the aggressive aspect of the ceremonial theatrics should be toned down.[1][2]

Goodbye to the ceremony of silly walks between India and Pakistan -The pantomime aggression at the Wagah checkpoint is to be toned down

Ritual dance between bitter brothers

BBC coverage - Pakistan


BBC coverage - India

reply to post by Phage


Nice to see they shook hands at the end.

People seem to forget that prior to 9/11 that these 2 countries were playing nuclear brinkmanship. I remember thinking this was all going to kick off in 2001.

The 2001–2002 India–Pakistan standoff was a military standoff between India and Pakistan that resulted in the massing of troops on either side of the International Border (IB) and along the Line of Control (LoC) in the region of Kashmir.

en.wikipedia.org...

It's ironic that Michael Palin is commentating on this as he and his Monty Python team were responsible for the hilarious Ministry Of Silly Walks.

It's also worth noting that many British traditions, ceremonies and practices were not only adopted throughout the old Empire but were also exaggerated and adapted to suit local tastes etc.

Parts of the the Empire are more British than us British.

Tensions between the two countries remain high and flare up sporadically.
These cultural, religious and tribal differences go back centuries but remain high as Pakistan feels threatened by India's increasing international standing and it being touted as a future world super power whilst India feels threatened by Muslim extremists within the Pakistan administration and military etc and the threat posed by The Taliban.

Unfortunately it seems these differences run deep.
I know people of both Pakistani and Indian descent and the vast majority are perfectly rational and reasonable people, some are more 'westernised' than other's, but the biggest thing they have in common is a mutual hatred for each other.
They refuse to socialise with each other and some even advocate nuclear confrontation rather than peaceful co-operation etc.

Well I suppose you dont really get great TV like game of thrones in India or Pakistan so they have to take entertainment wherever they can get it Where that type of marching came from probably originates from either bengal belly or too much pale ale

I think this is great!

It may be just a silly show, but it is things like this that can bring different people together to a common ground.

Also gotta love the facial hair....but no one holds a candle to Tom Selleck!

It's not a show it's them actually closing the borders lol

reply to post by Phage


What did I just watch?

If only all battles were fought with dancing, err marching, or whatever this was. This is how America should close their borders to Mexico AND Canada, just for LoLs

Why do you Americans seem to think that anything that's not the same as your culture is amusing? They have their own culture, you have yours.You lot probably look funny to them there, have some respect for other people. There's a reason why you're the most hated country atm...