These days it is done in an ampitheatre with cheering crowds on both sides. As a westerner I was escorted by the military to the front platform. At first I was not sure why I had been picked out by the military and escorted a different way from all the locals. I ended up with a grandstand view.
The parade consists of a lot of shouting, quick marching, stamping and football like cheering from the crowds. Great spectacle.
Pakistani (in Black) and Indian border guards.The high stepping had them bringing their knees up to their chest level before crashing their boots down. The did everything quickstep. It reminded me of Monty Python's 'Ministry of Silly Walks'.
After the parade we had to leave the stands and walk round the edge of the show area. This took us past a crossing point that does not seem to be used but has not been permanently closed. It just has troops either side. There is a monument to 50 years of the Rangers which I guess are the border guards. Had my picture taken there with Amir.
Pakistan - Indian border with Indian soldier in background.
After the parade we had to leave the stands and walk round the edge of the show area. This took us past a crossing point that does not seem to be used but has not been permanently closed. It just has troops either side. There is a monument to 50 years of the Rangers which I guess are the border guards. Had my picture taken there with Amir.
Pakistan - Indian border with Indian soldier in background.After seeing the picture I turned and thanked the Indian for posing there for us. The Pakistani soldier guarding the crossing told us in no uncertain terms not to talk to 'Him' as he was a bad person. Why? we asked. Soldier replied 'Him Indian we Pakistan, he bad person' I guess they still hate each other. We walked away laughing at the absurdness of it all.
Later that evening we went to the Sufi shrine to Baba Shah Jamal. In our ignorance we ended up in the ladies section of the temple. Nobody said anything to us but we did receive odd looks. Who is going to approach a 6'2" white guy who is wandering around as if he owns the place. We ended up leaving the womens section via the shrine in the middle of the courtyard which had an exit to the mens section. Faux pas number 2... when we left the shrine, which was absolutely beautiful with the ceiling made of mother of pearl and other semi precious stones, and the shrine itsself covered with about 6 inches of rose petals, we just turned and walked out into the male section. We thought we had got away with that but it turned out that we sould not have turned our backs on the shrine. Dumb bloody foreigners.
Later we walked around Charing Cross and up the Mall. You can tell the Brits were here for a while. At one end of the Mall is Summit Minar which commoeates the Islamic summit conference in 1974. This closes at 6pm but when we arrived at around 9pm Amir decided it would be better for us to take a picture if we just climbed the fence. So we did.
Monument with statue of Koran.
Later that evening we went to the Sufi shrine to Baba Shah Jamal. In our ignorance we ended up in the ladies section of the temple. Nobody said anything to us but we did receive odd looks. Who is going to approach a 6'2" white guy who is wandering around as if he owns the place. We ended up leaving the womens section via the shrine in the middle of the courtyard which had an exit to the mens section. Faux pas number 2... when we left the shrine, which was absolutely beautiful with the ceiling made of mother of pearl and other semi precious stones, and the shrine itsself covered with about 6 inches of rose petals, we just turned and walked out into the male section. We thought we had got away with that but it turned out that we sould not have turned our backs on the shrine. Dumb bloody foreigners.
Later we walked around Charing Cross and up the Mall. You can tell the Brits were here for a while. At one end of the Mall is Summit Minar which commoeates the Islamic summit conference in 1974. This closes at 6pm but when we arrived at around 9pm Amir decided it would be better for us to take a picture if we just climbed the fence. So we did.
Monument with statue of Koran.When the security guard saw we were foreigners and taking pictures he showed us the museum dedicated to the summit conference. Not only that but he opened it and showed us round. Cannot imagine that happening at a museum in Londao for a couple of foreigners who had jumped the fence.
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