10 metres

A few years back I took a holiday to Dubai with my parents.
I was in the Ninth grade and very eager to see the single building which housed the supermarket, Theater, Food court and car parking. The concept of a MALL was not established in India thanks to the absence of the same. So i got out of the hotel lobby and raised my right hand to summon a cab ( they drive on the opposite side of the road). The Toyota Camry with a yellow triangular prism on its roof with the word ‘TAXI’ printed on it suddenly stopped in front of me.

We got in.

As I sat inside admiring the inside of the vehicle which was considered to be a rich man’s luxury saloon, the driver took a note of us. From the colour of his skin we knew he was also from the Subcontinent and i think he got the clue about us too.
He asked , ” Are you from Karachi ?”

My father said , ” No , Mumbai.”

I was skeptical about what would happen next. Would he ask us to leave. Or would he just throw us out from the moving cab. But my fears were soon put to rest when he replied

” Oh , Mumbai ! People look very similar in Karachi also.
I am from Lahore.”

His voice had a certain calmness considering he was talking to a person whose country had been in an on-off war state with his country for about 50 long years.

Well, u couldn’t blame me. I had never met a Pakistani before and having watched the extensive media coverage of the terrorist attacks I would have expected a much violent reply, to say the least.
More so, whenever a Cricket match was played between the two, every six or wicket would result in a big uproar in various parts of the world making it audible from the Moon.

That was my first interaction with a Pakistani.
I wouldn’t say that it was a very negative experience.

Time passed, and although I did not really forget this event, i did not put much focus on this.
Sure, there were bomb blasts and trains burnt with alleged Pakistani support, but the ‘ Chalta hai ‘ attitude was catalytic in helping people forgetting it. All this happened till the rich and famous were targeted and gunned down in one of the most posh and luxurious hotels in the country. The people – public and government suddenly woke up with vigour with a set of ministers running all over the country meeting the victims and trying to find out who was responsible.

Once again Pakistan entered the spotlight.

We all know the dreaded day – 26th November, 2008.

Terrorists entered the busiest railway station in the city, the most expensive hotel in the city, frequented by the hot shots of the financial capital of India and across the world. They fired at the civilians and pedestrians without any remorse and watched them die with a smile across their face.

The Government did claim to have found unquestionable evidence about the involvement of Pakistani Government, ISI, and various terrorist organizations. Immediately i was reminded about my interaction with the Cabbie in Dubai.
A couple of months later, I went on a trip organized by the IEEE committee. We spent a few days in Amritsar and then visited the Wagha Border- connecting Amritsar to Lahore.

We walked through a road which gave us a clear indication that if we continued beyond a certain limit, we might actually be behind ‘enemy lines’.

At the border we saw a rather spectacular show by the Border Security Force (BSF) as they marched across the road towards the dual set of gates that separated India from its biggest enemy. The gates were opened, trumpets were blown and people danced on the street. If they hadn’t been told to shout praises for their own country, I am sure each one from either side of the border would have yelled the lungs out screaming abuses at one another. Never before in my life had i felt so Indian.

After what i would say was a ‘ back to the roots ‘ experience, the gates were closed and people were allowed to click pictures with the BSF jawans with the border in the background. After that we were allowed to go as close as 5 meters from the gate which had the letters ‘INDIA’ both in English and Devanagari script.

After this gate, that marked the end of India, was about 10 meters of land which belonged to neither and then a gate which had ‘PAKISTAN’ in English and Persian script.

At that point i was forced to think.
On 14th August,1947 Pakistan got its independence followed by India on the following day. That meant that each country could boast of 62 years of freedom.
But could either side boast of peace from across the border for even 1 percent of that freedom period???

So many lives had been lost, so much innocent blood had been bled, so many children had been orphaned, people lost all their belongings and became homeless, fled from both sides of the ‘Border’- all for just 10 meters of ‘No- mans-land’. Even 62 years after the British have left the subcontinent , we still cant do away with their simplest and most fundamental way of gaining control over us ( via ‘Divide and Rule’)
Gandhi , Jinnah and their associates have been fighting using their methods to prove their respective points. And frankly , I felt that they wasted all their time if all they achieved was a small piece of land , dividing us, which no one could use.
There are chances that when in a foreign country, one might not be able to distinguish between an Indian and a Pakistani. They look the same , have the same mentality and line of thought, the same feelings , similar language and the similar culture. So as it turns out it is only the 10 meters of land that separates us.

WHAT A WASTE!!!

Most of the people who actually run the landmass on the other side of the LoC were actually born on present day Indian soil. Like wise the some of the people who currently hold the Government posts in ‘Hindustan’ were actually born in current day Pakistan.

Today, every terrorist attack is seen as a form of communal violence. Terrorists are created by arousing brotherhood towards people of the same religion. Just because I am Hindu or Muslim, it should not matter to anyone. Its a personal choice in a free democratic republic.

Is is really justified?