Reader’s Digest
96 august 2019
elegant. It was the Urdu, I realized.
At the immigration terminal, we
were greeted by officers who were
extremely helpful and polite. Instead
of being annoyed about our late entry,
which meant extra work beyond
their shift, they were reassuring and
welcoming. And now, we were all set
to leave for Lahore city in a minibus
that was waiting for us.Beautiful, Enchanting
Lahore, I realized, resembled Lutyens’
Delhi—only more green and lush,
compared to the rest of the IndianPakistan was just over a kilometre
away, and Lahore just 20 kilometres
from there, was surreal. There wasn’t
much time to waste between customs
and other formalities, and we had to
walk a little more than a kilometre
to reach the border gate.
Reaching the border, we could see
the crowds collecting on both sides for
the evening change of guard. While
Gandhiji’s favourite bhajans were
being played on our side, Pakistan
played their national songs. The
slogan-shouting reminded me of a
muqabla qawwali performance with
each side trying to outdo the other.
Soon it was my turn to show my
passport at the gate. To our shock, the
immigration officer had forgotten to
stamp many of our passports and now
there was utter panic as it was time for
the gates to close on both sides.
Two of us ran back with the
unstamped passports. In the
meantime, the exit gate had informed
the officer about his mistake, and he
met us at the terminal. We then rushed
back, out of breath and worried that
we may miss the deadline. We were
in for a surprise, though. Our officers
had requested their counterparts
to keep the gates open for us and
they had graciously obliged. And so
we were quickly made to cross over,
where they checked our passports and
motioned us in.
Crossing over, I immediately
noticed the change in language and
lehja (tone)—much more formal and LEFT:^ INDIAPICTURE,^ RIGHT:^ ALAMYLAHORE’S OLD-WORLD
CHARM MIXES
DELIGHTFULLY WITH
MODERN AMENITIES.