New Year Celebration at Wagah Border

By Sonica Rajkumari 

Since my childhood, I have been celebrating New Year at my home sitting in front of TV watching the New Year programs, or by wishing my friends New Year late night via SMS. But, this time I celebrated my new year differently, in a very special way that I had never thought of and never planned for it. I would never forget the night of 31st December 2009 and the first day of New Year i.e.1st January 2010.

Last year we had NOSPLAN (National Organisation of Student of Planning) in the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), Delhi, in the month of Jan ’09. This time Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) Amritsar had hosted two-day NOSPLAN on 29 December 2009 and 1 January, 2010. On the night of 26 December, we boarded train at 2 a.m from Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, station to Delhi after seeing the movie 3 Idiots at a cinema hall which made our tour more enjoyable. We reached on December 28 and on the same day we had a bus to Amritsar from Lal Quila, New Delhi, and reached there next morning on 29th December. We had been staying in GNDU University only. On 30th December night, we had a group dance competition between the colleges. Obviously, I danced but this time with more proper rehearsal not like last time (Read: Small and Beautiful) when we practiced dance just few hours before the competition and we stood 2nd runner up which was completely unexpected.

This time we knew we would come in top 3 and we came 2nd runner up again. That very night and the next morning also, I was completely absorbed in the dance performance. My mind was not taking anything and I couldn’t help as it happens to me often. Last year also when I danced with my friends I was in same situation, sank into my thoughts.

Anyway, next day on 31st December night we had a DJ party in a banquet hall in Amritsar. All colleges that were present there for NOSPLAN celebrated and welcomed New Year by hitting hard the floor and having good food. Whenever some Punjabi number played that I have not heard, I used to gear up and go to dance again.

On 1 January after the distribution of prizes, we went to see Wagha border. I was so excited to see the location in real, which I watched only in TV till then. The place was very crowded. I could see we were more in number than the Pakistani audience. When we entered, songs were playing. One of my friend, two girls from MANIT (Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology) Bhopal and I, went on the road where already some women and girls were dancing. We danced on songs like ‘Jai-Ho’, ‘Rang De Basanti’. It was fun and we enjoyed a lot. After that we were told to go to our respective places.



Then a BSF officer came out with a mike in hand. He started hailing slogans 'Hindustan-Zindabad', 'Bharat Mata ki – Jai' and many. We also joined him. He was awesome. He was shouting so energetically as if he was going to kill that Pakistani soldier who was standing on the other side of the gate who was also hailing Pakistani slogans. I could see on the other side of the fence there were hardly any audience compared to us. I could hardly hear some “Jio-Jio” from Pakistani side. The BSF officer was all the time encouraging us to hail more loudly. I put my whole energy to shout as loud as I could. My throat got sore after that. I don’t remember when I shouted like this last time. After that, gates of both the countries opened and one BSF soldier from our side and one from the Pakistani side stood in front of their respective gates and started showing parade within their boundaries. Their gestures were aggressive in pride of their national identity and out of the feeling of nationality. Then flags of both the countries hoisted. The whole moment was fantastic experience. I shouted crazily as I do not know when I shall get chance like this again.

After Wagha border, we headed towards Golden Temple in Amritsar, the last Indian city, which is just 28 kilometers from the Indo-Pak border. I kept my eyes widely open so that I could catch the large precinct of Golden temple in my view. Here also, I was filled with wonder and excitement as I was seeing the temple in real. Just after entering Golden temple, our superstars Shah Rukh Khan and Katrina Kaif came into my mind. I started looking for the spot where the heroine of the movie “Rab ne bana di Jodi” sat in front of water and saw Shah Rukh as her “Rab”. It was a long queue to the temple. First we had our dinner in the ‘Langer’ in the premises of the temple. We did not enter the temple then as it was already around 10 p.m. We saw the people taking the “Granth” in “Palki” from the temple to some building. Afterwards, we entered the temple when it was less crowded. People were cleaning the temple when we entered. As the temple is in the middle of water, it was a magnificent view from the temple. Lots of lighting was there. The image of illuminated temple was reflected on the water and the image of water was equally reflected on the temple wall. Somewhere around 11 a.m, we left the temple. I bought “Kadha” for my family and for me. Then we headed towards our rooms. We hit the bed as soon as we reached in the room as we were so tired and my throat needed rest.

I have never felt so privileged seeing such places. It was the most memorable New Year for me. I captured all these unforgettable moments in a camera.