Date: 04/11/2014
Most "tamaashbeen" ("Schaulustige")spectators who watch this garish show of exaggerated goose steps with hilarious howls of loud ear shattering commands of parade when the soldiers struggle to raise their marching boots above the level of their ears, find the farce ludicrous.
The parade is like the circus show in the middle of Punjab, once the cradle of civilisation as the Macedonian Alexander saw 325 years BEFORE the birth of Christ, that was our Province, the size of France, with FIVE rivers flowing through it, when the blood dripping "Sword of Mohammed of Mecca" bisected it at this spot between two ancient (pre historic INDIAN) "sister" cities of Lahore and Amritsar.
This naked devils' dance is the constant reminder of the "death" of the Province where once our holy scriptures were composed and Sri Rama's two sons grew up (Luv and Kush), and centuries later, Guru Nanak, the divine "Light of Universe", was born to preach love to all mankind.
Nehru who conceded Partition and the "death" of Bengal, Kashmir and Punjab, had NO love lost for our Hindusthan and his own mentor Gandhi's "Akhand Bharat" but saw the country as well as its proud Provinces sliced through.
The farcical ceremony held for tourists, denoting the meeting point of Ideological flash point, should stop forthwith and border sealed as it is between East Bengal and West Bengal where we see NO confrontation as at Wagah in the "wretched" partitioned Punjab.
The uppermost thought going through the minds of proud Hindu PATRIOTS, watching the garish brazen farcicle "stage managed cheap & childish" military spectacle, is to blast Partition and HANG JAWAHARLAL NEHRU.
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4 Nov 14.
PS: Only two days ago the "bolt from heaven", the Wrath of Allah, KILLED 50 separatist Pakistanis and injured over 100 in a mighty BOMB blast. But will the "Mohammed of Desert" see the hand of our angry gods in it? And, above all, will our own government in distant Delhi stop the daily parade at Wagah?
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In a message dated 04/11/2014 07:33:30 GMT Standard Time, XXXXXXXXXXXXX writes:
The writer of the column enclosed from Hindusthan Times is right. it is not necessary to stage such daily drama, verging on a comedy but for tragic consequences, like the one just witnessed at present. If Pakistan wants its soldiers there show ferocity in their mien let them do so without reciprocity from India side. For India is a mature and civilized country to indulge in such infantile pranks.
G V XXXXXXXXXXX
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For our soldiers' sake, stop parading them at Wagah
KumKum Dasgupta, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, November 04, 2014 XXXXXXXXXXX
The flag ceremony at Wagah is attended by hundreds on both sides of the border and is particularly crowded on Sunday. (File Photo)A day after a suicide bomb attack killed at least 55 people on the Pakistani side of the border, Pakistani Rangers (PR) went ahead with the Beating Retreat ceremony on their side. This surprised ---- and angered ---- India’s Border Security Force (BSF) brass because the Pakistani Rangers had requested to suspend the “ceremony” for three days. So when the flag lowering ceremony took place on Monday, a tradition both countries have followed since 1959, the Pakistani side had thousands of flag-waving and slogan-shouting tourists (were they?) to cheer their boys at the border but the Indian side did not have a single one to match their enthusiasm and lung power.
I have never been to the Wagah border to watch this military spectacle. But many of my friends have and the views are sharply divided. Some have enjoyed the “show of strength” while others think it’s just a pompous show and there is nothing, absolutely nothing, to gloat about.
So before writing this piece, I decided to check out the “world-famous” parade on YouTube. The first video that popped up was a year-old one by someone called Neeraj Pareta. Pareta’s description of it ---- ‘Parade at Wagah (The true feeling for the Nation comes from here’ ---- sums up his views on the parade. While watching the 12.30 minute-long video, I remembered how British director Michael Palin, who filmed and broadcast the ceremony for one of his television around-the-world travel programmes, had described the parade: a display of "carefully choreographed contempt." His assessment, I think, was spot on.
But this "carefully choreographed contempt” has left me cold ---- and angry.
Before my Twitter “friends” brand me as “unpatriotic” etc, let me clarify that I love military parades, especially the one on January 26. I just love the way the servicemen parade in perfect coordination with confidence and pride that’s so missing in the civilian way of life.
So here’s why I didn’t like the Wagah parade: The BSF jawans are professional soldiers who are trained to keep our borders secure and I think its utterly disgusting on our part to ask these professional and proud soldiers to take part in this drama every single day in front of thousands of tourists.
Those goose steps, aggressive body language, eye-ball-to eyeball contact with the Rangers, double quick marching steps and a weird handshake with the opposing party is so very infantile and doesn’t behove of a 67-year-old proud democracy.
I wonder if anyone has ever asked the BSF soldiers how they feel to put up this act day after day, knowing well that one misstep in front of a ‘nationalistic” crowd could well mean a huge blot on their service record.
I am sure that many think that by cheering the soldiers at Wagah they do their bit for the country. This is a wrong. If you really want to do something for the nation, then why not try and join the Territorial Army or ensure the success of the Clean Indian Campaign? And if you want to say ‘thank you’ to our soldiers, there are plenty of other ways of doing so: Speak up for their rights or thank a jawan when you meet one.
But for heaven’s sake, please don’t disrespect our brave soldiers and belittle their professional duties by asking them to take part in such a Bollywood-style obnoxious drama at Wagah so that you can have your five-minute fix of nationalism.
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