As an Indian, “What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the words India-Pakistan,” he asked me smiling.
Keeping up with my usual chatter box instinct of endless talking, I immediately replied it has always been a dream to see how Pakistan looked like!
Raising his eyebrows, he curiously asked, “Oh really, is it?”
It might have sounded a very random answer but having heard stories of partition from my grandmother who also was a refugee, I never saw the two countries as being different.
She lived in Sargodha and used to tell tales of cordial relationships between Hindus and Muslims back then. I still remember the glow in her eyes when she used to narrate stories of harmony, peace amongst people of different religions, the shared kitchens they had without any locking systems in houses and the descriptions of their delicious meals.
But, at the same time, growing up hearing all kinds of hate messages for each other’s country on television debates and elsewhere, I could well imagine his curiosity about my strange answer.
“For you, I think it will be ‘difficult’ to fulfil that dream considering you’re a journalist and also with kind of relationship that the two nations share now, it is only going to get tougher,” he told me.
As we (a group of friends from various nationalities) decided to have a cup of tea at a Nepali store before calling it a day, my conversations with him moved from elections, Modi and politics to how people both in India and Pakistan loved “Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham” or “K3G” with him remembering the endless songs and dialogues in detail and all of us making fun of the transformation of Hrithik Roshan from a fat chubby child to a hot guy in seconds.
We even talked on how illogical I felt the ceremony at Wagah Atari border looked to me with people from both sides shouting anti national slogans often, which made them smile in agreement too.
Thinking about his question again as I write this, I would not be exaggerating if I say that one can hear loud fireworks in India if the country won a major cricket match against Pakistan just like one would hear on a festival such as Diwali.
Sharing a cold relationship with Pakistan for ages now and growing up in India hearing all kinds of prejudices for each other, his question took me back to another conversation with Pakistani students on campus.
For the very first assignment here in September which required us talking to a foreigner and getting to know about what news they read, I encountered a group of four boys from Pakistan in university canteen. As soon as I approached them with a notebook and pen in my hand asking, “Do you read news from your home country?,” just like an excited student reporter would do on the first day, I sensed they were quite reluctant to talk to me.
Surprised to see the reactions myself, I heard one of them whispering “Let’s get out of here.”
Waiting for their food on the cash counter, one of them was still interested in answering me more than the others, but he had to go out as he was directed by another friend to leave the place with a nodding head signal.
“We don’t read any news, we’re very busy, sorry,” he said politely and they left the cash counter hurriedly.
I soon found out people from different other countries like Greece and Mexico and finished the assignment within the deadline. But those looks and the strange conversation never left my mind.
The question that always irks is do borders exist just on the maps or in the minds of people too? After all, we are people who share the same skin colour, eat almost the same kind of food, speak somewhat similar languages and fight against many common problems such as poverty, lack of education and hunger living under the same sky.
I m too naive to give a solution to the problem of the political chaos and the relationship that India and Pakistan share.
But, it is not difficult to say that if we make an effort to work together, there’s actually no border.
It would be so ideal if the world functioned in the way we study together under the same roof tackling problems together.
Each day here brings new challenges, opportunities and life lessons and meeting new people makes me think more critically of my understanding of the world.
Meeting these strangers turned friends yesterday, I m happy to see that in a land far away from home, borders don’t hold much meaning for many. In my mind, they never did and surely never will.
And no wonder, with the new friendships and bonds, my dream of going to Pakistan looks more achievable now, isn’t it!🤞🏻😉
