Wagah Border Ceremony

I'm getting slightly out of chronological order here, but this is worth going back to. At the end of the orientation conference, we and a few friends went to the famous Wagah Border Ceremony. This involves lots of shouting, stomping around and generally facing off against your Indian counterparts.



















That's India through there.

























No idea who this chap was or what he was doing there. He wandered about a lot with his picture. People cheered.

























"You're looking awful cheery for a guard..."



Here's a taster of some shouting. And stomping. At times the whole thing felt like 3 shows happening simultaneously, with minimal co-ordination between the various parties. There were cheerleader chaps with big flags who shouted a lot and gee-ed up the crowd. There was a guard with incredible lung capacity who stood on top of the gatehouse and shouted - people cheered. There were rousing pop songs along the lines of "Go Pakistan!" - people cheered. People in the crowd started up their own chants in competition with the cheerleaders ones - and people cheered some more.



















They have been known to kick their own hats off on occasion.

























The flags descending. In order to keep international relations suitably happy, it's obviously imperative that the flags come down in unison, with one never being below the other.



















And finally, the flag being hot-footed back to safe-keeping. A job well done. Now for some Lemsip for the shouted throats, and a nice warm bath for the stomped legs.