Border Show

The show before the show. Wagha border line, Attari, India.

Vande Mataram!

Indian actor Raza Murad participating in the Wagha Border parade

In Amritsar, India, I attended the traditional change of guards at the Wagha border line at Attari, bordering on Pakistan. It was the most entertaining ceremonial I have ever attended. Normally the guards wearing what looks like fans on their head gear and seem to come from the Ministry of Silly Walks will parade and lift their legs in the very best Cleese fashion. And people will shout and applaud as they do so. But on this day, last Sunday, the Bollywood actor Raza Murad was in town and participated. According to the local news, he was in town to shoot for a tv series, Kirpan, playing the role of and old sikh.

So before the regular show, the real show went on: the speakers were on LOUD, spouting out Indian popular songs, and women and children in all coulours of silk were dancing and singing along, joined by Mr. Murad. During the parade itself the parade master shouted 'Vande!' - and the crowd of thousands of Indians shouted back 'Mataram!' The words to initiate the Indian national song. This went on for shouts and shouts, until the supremacy of the Indian people was at its peak, and just then a few Pakistanis with sore throuts responded in spread singular voices 'G-A-G-A' (phonetically so). This, I was told, meant 'live and live' (or rather 'live and let live'). To which response the Indian crowds spouted out roaring laughs, whistles, and generally demeaning hollar backs. Luckily I was sitting with the IN crowd...

Deadline

The media went crazy the first weekend I was visiting India. There had been bombings in Delhi, I tipped the Danish news show Deadline, and they called me back for supplements of information for their story. So I did inform the little I knew at the time from the local media. Test or real life news segment, I had no idea. Mostly I thought of it as a brilliant way of being tested. Later I checked their homepage and found the below links. If any more of its kind, I will have to sharpen my delivery. But hey, this was a first!

http://www.dr.dk/DR2/deadline2230/Deadlineindslag.htm
http://www.dr.dk/odp/default.aspx?template=nyhed&guid=DR2200809132230&autoplay=0&back=default.aspx%3ftemplate%3dnyheder%26day%3d0#

Paradoxically

I hate the blog universe! Or rather, I hate the fact that today you simply don't exist unless you post your indifferent thoughts and opinions on your own blog. I am, therefore I blog. Paradoxically.