People separated by an imaginary line and barbed wires
Nandita Das - August 12, 2005
Tomorrow I am going to the Wagah border along with a few diehard optimists like Kuldip Nayar from India and Asma Jehangir from Pakistan.
Every year on 14th August a special event is organized at the (Wagah Border) India-Pakistan border. It starts after the dramatic change of ground ceremony (sometime late evening) and carries on till about 2 am. People separated by just an imaginary line (and barbed wires in some places) celebrate the Independence Day of Pakistan on the 14th followed by India on the15th. I have been wanting to be a part of this collective celebration ever since it started, 10 years ago and finally this year I will be there with over 5 lakh people to reaffirm our faith in peace and harmony! More when I come back.
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Posted by Nandita Das at August 12, 2005 06:36 PM
Comments
Good Afternoon Nandita . . . hope all is well. Please take all our collective consciousnesses with you and know those of us who are unable to join you physically - will be celebrating with you spiritually! Safe journey . . . Laila
All the best Nandita!
Just one comment.. An honest Optimist is never "Die Hard"! The problems of hatred and violence are born in the "Contempt for Diversity" - whether it is with relationship to views or practices or paths.. whoever is convinced that his/her path is the ONLY one.. is condemned to repeat the same mistakes that those he tries to fight against have made.
People never kill People.. Hatred kills Love.. and strangely this hatred is predicated on the "Love" for one's OWN view of the world! So real Love is all encompassing and open .. it gives... never looks for judgment or return or understanding... otherwise it is the first step to Hatred.. of a different form and dimension maybe.. but Hatred nevertheless!
So go on.. but without the self-assumed importance that your path is the ONLY one! In the world of relativity .. there is no such thing as ONLY ONE! And when you have dissolved your self to get to the absolute then ... NONE really counts!
cheers,
desh
www.dkapoor.com/blog
Nandita one day ,may be, there will be a critical mass of people that will realize that all division and all separation is an imaginary line.Thankyou for being you and doing what you do love deepak
Nandita one day ,may be, there will be a critical mass of people that will realize that all division and all separation is an imaginary line.Thankyou for being you and doing what you do love deepak
fences in the daylight,
painfull freedom at night,
freedom in the daylight,
fences torn in the night
*thank you, and continue to inspire, we will see a just world in the near future.
Hi Nandita,I did not know about this beautiful ritual.I am glad you are going to be part of it.I have many friends from Pakistan.They are just like us.Majority of them are good kind human beings. The politicians create the problems.We Pakistanis and Indians share same language,culture,food habits,outfits,value system,music,dance,cricket,just name it.Have a lot of fun. May the Divine Mother protect you.
And this may happen sooner than you can imagine, Deepak. I remember the Berlin wall... Lots of people in the world want peace, lots of people meditate for peace and there are coming more and more....
Nandita, I will meditate for peace tomorrow and my whole family and friends with me.
Love to you, Mieke
deepak:
the inherent "property" of drawing lines.. in living beings is fundamentally based on the ego or "I" .. the day that goes away (like you wish) there will be just Supreme Consciousness.. nothing else!
And until that ego is there.. there will always be lines... some imaginary... some posts on the sand .. lines nevertheless...
A Sufi saint said thus in Punjabi:
"Anhad di had disdi nahin;
Had lagdi taan je main howaan!"
Until "I" am "You" are ... if "I" aint.. "You" aint! And for "I" to vanish .. it has to be a comprehensive banishment.. it cannot be forgone in percentages or for specific purposes/relationships!!
So either you are nothing AND therefore Supreme Consciousness... or you are Human.. and so have boundaries!
Nandita.a lot of us will be with you in spirit on this trip.Do tell us about it when you come back.May God bless you Jan
the line is not imaginary, the bonhomie is. the barbed wire would cost india 77000 crores this year to defend and maintain. it would cost pakistan an equally huge burden but that's okay for them - they're only shouldering the believer's burden. do you think candlelight vigils would fill kashmir-shaped holes in the pakistani imagination?
The barbed wire is a projection of the imaginary line
Thank you for your faith and your commitment to peace, Nandita. You touch and inspire me with your openness and your dedication because I have a deep need to maintain and express through my actions that faith in peace as well.
I'm looking forward to hearing more when you come back.
Love, Kristin
oh you are indeed lucky.I hope you are taking a good camera... and we hope to see some of what you see...
Nandita: You and your group are like "the sound" that brought down the Walls of Jericho!
Very much looking forward to your posts regarding that "front and center" line-of-imagination, the one we manifested with flesh-tearing barbs on it. Dave
Nandita are you back? Tell us what happened love Karen
Nandita are you back? Tell us what happened love Karen
Nandita
Please tell us what happened
Neelam
firers canning secretion calculations sicker knowhow jeopardizes
creeper definitional!breadboards,fidget divest:protoplasm Hindustan
penitentiary regressive vaudeville arrogate digesting:bluest teletypes sicker
penitentiary regressive vaudeville arrogate digesting:bluest teletypes sicker
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Nandita
Please tell us what happened
Nandita
On August 14, 1997 the eve of 50 years of independence, Rahul Bose (our fellow blogger), Rajeev Sethi, my cousin, Radhika, and I went to the Wagah border.
Unfortunately that night, our Pakistani friends from the other side were not allowed to the imaginary line. But, we had a candlenight vigil, and then danced and celebrated all night long nonetheless.
I am so thrilled about how this has grown and cannot wait to hear about your trip.
Much love,
Mallika