76. Beating Retreat Ceremony at the Attari Border

A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of watching the Beating Retreat Ceremony at the Attari Border. Wagah comes in Pakistan and hence our side of the ceremony takes place in Attari Border!!

I had gone on a trip to Amritsar (wait for another blog on these trips😊), and thought that since we were going to be so near the border, why not include this too in the trip!!  The trip was planned three months in advance but it had not been decided how we were going to watch the ceremony.  My family had gone with my school friend’s family. He suggested that why not we try our school friend in the Coast Guard to see if we can get some VIP passes!!  Since my cousin is also a Colonel in the Indian Army, I called him also and asked if we could get the passes.  He immediately swung into action and ensured that by the time we reached the Attari border, the passes were waiting for us!! Later we came to know that the ceremony can be watched free.  With the VIP passes however, we can sit on the seats near the border gate and can see the ceremony properly and from very near quarters!!

The ceremony is simply awesome!!  The seating arrangements done by the Border Service Force (BSF) is also excellent.  There is a small road that leads to the border gate and on both sides of the road, seating arrangements have been made in a C formation.  It looks like half a stadium.  There is a special place for differently-abled persons who can sit in a wheelchair and is just bordering the road where the ceremony takes place.  They can watch the ceremony the closest!!  There are several BSF jawans who help in the seating arrangements.  You just have to listen to them.  You can’t say which seat you want to sit on.  Seating is on a first-come-first-served basis.  If you come early, you get near seats.  For elderly people, the first 4-5 rows are reserved.  You simply can’t sit on these seats even if you come early.  There are vendors too in the area who sell the stuff like ice creams, juices, waters, etc at the MRP price only.  Announcement is also made in the venue that if any vendor asks for more price than the MRP, we can approach the nearest BSF jawan and complain.

From this side of the border, you can also see the other side of the border, where the Pakistani team is also doing their Beating the Retreat ceremony.  Comparing the seating arrangement for the two sides, the capacity at the other side of the border is just 10% of the capacity on our side.  This ceremony takes place 365 days in a year.  I had gone on a Friday, which is a holiday in Pakistan.  Our side was jam-packed with 100% attendance (even though it was a weekday) whereas the other side had only 10% attendance!!  Many of the people on the other side had climbed up to the higher seats to see what is happening in our side!!

The total duration is about 25 minutes but the programs starts much before that!!  As soon as you enter you can hear the patriotic songs from Hindi movies blaring at a very high volume!!  They make sure that the sound is heard on the other side of the border too😊!!.  After the songs, there is a short film on BSF that was shown earlier in Discovery Channel.  It is shown in 2 big giant screens near the border gate.  This TV cannot be seen from the Pakistani side.  During all this time there is a master of ceremony who is constantly asking the crowd to shout more so that it can reach the other side of the border!!  

After the short film, there is a crowd of about 100 ladies who are given the Indian flag in rotation and they run a short distance towards the border gate and then run back.  Of course, in the background the patriotic songs continue.  During this time too the master of ceremony is egging the crowd to cheer loudest so that the noise reaches the other side of the border!!  After these ladies have had their run, some 500 more ladies are gathered in the centre of the road and they dance to these patriotic songs. All these ladies are part of the crowd that have come to watch the ceremony.  While dancing they can also see themselves on the giant screens when the camera focusses on them!!  There are about 16-20 speakers kept at different places along the road so that the entire place is filled with sound!!   When you hear the patriotic songs in such a high decibel, you automatically start to sing with the song and cheer loudly!!

After this dance, the actual ceremony begins and is very engrossing.  The people who do this are tall and are able to take their legs above their shoulder while marching!!  The entire ceremony is conducted amidst loud cheering from the crowd!!  At the end of the ceremony the flags at both sides are taken down and given to their respective heads for safekeeping.

You can have a look at the actual ceremony at these links: - 

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/0pKuxYNJTOM

Part 2 - https://youtu.be/vkJa3VMlQ6A

The spectacle is simple awesome and worth seeing Live.  Many a times, during the ceremony, it gives goosepimples just to watch!!   

So anytime you are near Punjab, make sure you visit this ceremony and enjoy!!

Thanks Ravi for making it possible!!

Cheers until next week!!

Today’s Daffy Definition

Fashion – A form of ugliness so intolerable, that we have to alter it every six months!!