Train to Pakistan
Train to Pakistan
Tejinder Singh Rawal
tsrawal@tsrawal.com
Jis ne Lahore nahi wekhya o jamya hi nai (One who has not seen Lahore is not yet born: your life is worthless if you have not seen Lahore) goes an old Punjabi saying. These words were constantly echoing in my mind when I received an invitation from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) for participating in a conference in Lahore. It was an invitation too difficult to resist.
Pakistan is a very special place for me, as it is for every member of the huge displaced Punjabi community, which suffered the pangs of the partition and settled in India, becoming refugees in their own country. I am born and brought up in India, of parents who hailed from that part of India, which is now Pakistan. My father and grandfather once lived in a small village called Akora Khattak in Nowshera in NWFP, while my mother and her relatives lived near Rawalpindi. So when ICAP extended an invitation to me to participate in a Conference in Lahore, I was so excited. For me a visit to Pakistan was a visit to my motherland, my matrabhumi, and I applied for the visa immediately.The first setback I received when the visa application was not accepted for processing by the Pakistan Embassy on the ground that they had not yet received the clearance from Ministry of Interiors. I live in Nagpur, a city in the central part of India, far off from Delhi. The planned day of my departure was 13th January and until 11th, the clearance of the Ministry of Interiors had not been received. I was in a tight corner: I could not book my air tickets or bus ticket since I did not have visa issued to me. I thought of giving up, but the desire to visit the place where my parents once lived was so great, I was determined to go. When I enquired about the bus service, I was told that the bus was booked fully until the 20th; in any case, they would not book my ticket unless I had a visa granted to me. Indian Airlines flies twice a week to Lahore and the days were not suitable to me.
I boarded a train to Delhi without a visa in my hand on 11th night. I instructed my travel agent to apply for visa again on 12th morning. I kept calling my agent from my cell during my journey and her reply was in the negative, every time I called, she would tell me that visa was yet to be processed. I reached Delhi, called her, she asked me to meet her in her office, and she expected the visa to be delivered by the time I reached there. Reaching her office, my joy knew no bounds when I found that my passport had been stamped with a visa to visit Pakistan. I had already my train ticket booked for Ludhiana by 8 PM train from Old Delhi station, and rushed there to board the train in time.
Next morning I was at Wagah border proudly showing my papers, when I received another setback: "Sorry sir, you can't cross the border on foot unless you have a foreign passport, or unless you have a special permission from Ministry of External Affairs" I vaguely remembered one of the delegates was talking about obtaining the permission, but since I was in time for the train at Atari, I decided to travel 5 kilometres to Atari and board the train, Samjhota Express, from there. Though subsequently the permission from the Ministry was received, I preferred the rail journey for the return trip also. I was wondering why they should give special privileges to foreign passport holders? I met an NRI, an American passport holder who proudly walked through Wagah whereas we lesser mortals are required to go through the ordeal of the train journey.The Indian officer at Atari gave me a strange look when he found a Sikh travelling to Pakistan, and looked at my visa with suspicion. Obviously, people who travel by Samjhota are the people in India and Pakistan who have relatives on the other side of the border. And there are only a handful of Sikhs who live in Pakistan. The visa read, 'Indian Delegation' and he enquired about the rest of the members of the delegation, I replied that he might consider me as a one-man delegation. He was certainly not amused. I then had to tell him politely that it was none of the business of the Indian authorities to look into the reason why the visa was granted, it was for the Pakistani authorities to look into that. The officer advised me to remove my disemarkment form from Passport and keep it safely elsewhere, since the officers on the other side were likely to throw it away, and I would have difficulties on return. I asked him, are they bad on us, his reply was, "Assi unha nu taan bilkul hi nahi bakshde, oh saanu kyoun bakshange?" ( "We certainly don't spare them, why would they spare us?") I noticed a similar attitude across the border also when I asked a Pakistani officer whether people sometimes cross the border illegally. "Tusi tapde ho, assi nahi" [ "You (guys) jump ( the border) we don't ], then added that it was 10 years ago at the height of the Punjab border, now it doesn't happen. I later realised that this hostility exists only at both side of the border, and is non-existent as you travel in the countries. Sparing these two incidences, I did not come across any other occasion when anybody spoke bad about people on the other side of the border.
The train journey is the most traumatic experience. This journey deserves an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the slowest train journey in the world. It may take you more than 12 hours to travel 60 kilometres!! First, nobody at the station will ever tell you when the train is likely to arrive. Time for the start of the train from Lahore is 8 AM, it reaches Wagah, the Pakistani side of the border where, all 400 odd passengers alight for immigration and customs clearance, the train restarts after all the passengers have been cleared, which usually happens in late afternoon. The train arrived at 3 PM, and we boarded the train. I found 3 more delegates at the station and we now became a delegation in true sense of the term. Having boarded the train, I congratulated myself thinking that it was only an hour more for me to reach Lahore!! When I asked the officers when the train reaches Lahore, everyone smiled, and like always were non-committal. The train, guarded by Indian army men, who rode on horseback to see off the train to Pakistan border, entered Pakistan, and soon we were at Wagah station, not knowing that we had to go through another frustrating experience. There were two immigration officers and two customs officers and they were supposed to clear more than 400 travellers. People travelled with so much baggage, as if they were moving house! Baskets of paan ( betel) leaves, yards of clothes, mixer-grinder, kitchen appliances were being carried by most of the passengers. I was also told that some of them even dissemble bicycles and carry them in their baggage, since the price of a bicycle in Pakistan is Rs 3000! The attitude of the officers was that of callousness and indifference. One officer would shout at people at the top of his voice, when I sarcastically told him he had a very impressive voice, he proudly said that when he shouted the BSF jawans at the Indian border could also hear him!
Samjhota Express, was an obsolete looking train and truly justified the name samjhota, compromise! Pakistan still manages with the technology that is at least 3 decades old. The train stopped a few kilometres before Lahore, since a Toyota van had obstructed the track! We finally reached Lahore in the middle of the night. To our pleasant surprise, our hosts were eagerly waiting for us at the railway station. Throughout our trip the hosts made sure that we were comfortable and showed great hospitality to all the Indian delegates. We were transported to our hotel at Mall Road. I had heard a lot about Lahore from my parents and grandparents, and was obviously not interested in sleeping, but would rather like to visit places even if it was the middle of the night. When I told this to Major Ajmal Masoon, Asstt Manager Admn, ICAP, he readily obliged, and took us straight to the Food Street at Gawalmandi. It is a pedestrians' lane, well lit, surrounded by pre-partition Indian architecture. It offers the choicest of Mughlai, Lahori, Pakistani and bar-be-cue cuisine at a very reasonable price. Even at such odd hours I could see so many people glutting, indeed Lahoris are voracious eaters whose lives revolve around food!Next morning we began our trip in the alleys and lanes of Anarkali, a place I had heard a lot bout from my parents and grandparents. Of all the bazaars in Lahore, Anarkali is most fascinating. You name anything and you get it here, whether it is leather goods, or handicrafts, or ethnic wears, or anything else under the sun. Legend has it that the bazaar was named after Anarkali who was Akbar's courtesan . She, according to legend was put to death by Emperor Akbar for having a love affair with prince Salim, later known as Jehangir. Anarkali is the place to discover the old world charm, the glib-talking shopkeepers who obviously enthused to see Indians visiting them, would not let you go without buying their stuff. The Food Street in Anarkali was a connoisseur’s delight. With a wide variety of food, it is sure to add inches to your waistline. It was a delight to see such dishes as katlamma, exotic kebabs and biryanis.What is most amazing is the attitude of the people in Pakistan. I being a turban wearing Sikh am too conspicuous to be ignored. "Sardarji Sat-sri-akal" the greetings followed me wherever I went. And I would reply to them with the same enthusiasm. People stopped us for no reasons just to greet us. "Assi twade tabedaar haan, tusi saade mulk aaye ho" ( “We are grateful to you for having come here”) was what was echoed everywhere we went. The offer to have a cup of tea with them was difficult to refuse, with the result that every few minutes I would be found sipping a cup of tea with a stranger who would narrate his experiences with great enthusiasm and would suggest that the border should be thrown open for the public of both countries to visit each other without restrictions. The shopkeepers would refuse to take money for the goods bought saying that they will not take any money from their guests. One small shop owner selling imarti was in tears when I offered him the money for a few pieces of piping hot imartis I had bought from him , “Tusi saade mehman o, assi Lahoriye pyaar de pukkhe haan, paise de nai” ( “You are our guests, we Lahoris want your love not money”) Even the autorikshaw-wallah would accept the fare only after much insistence!!
One of the most prominent structures in Lahore is the massive Lahore Fort which was built by Akbar in the 1560s, and which towers over the old city of Lahore. Then there is the famous Minar-e-Pakistan, where the Muslim League first passed a resolution for a separate Muslim nation. Opposite the Lahore Fort is the samadh of Guru Arjan Dev, who lost his life while fighting near here in the waters of the Ravi River, which used to flow past the Fort walls those days. Samadhi of Maharaja Ranjit Singh is located outside Lahore Fort.
More than the prominent historical buildings and structure, it is the bright dresses, beautiful women, warm hospitality, the hustle and bustle of the city and a happy-go-lucky attitude of people with genuine love for their own brethren from India, which left me spellbound. Despite what politicians on both sides of the border say!
Speaking of politicians, the Chief Guest in the ICAP Conference was Omar Ayub Khan, Minister of State for Finance , Pakistan, son of the ex-Foreign Minister Gohar Ayub and the grandson the the ex-President Field Marshall Ayub Khan. A very impressive young man Omar Ayub Khan spoke at length about the state of Pakistan economy and the rapid pace of progress of the country under the regime of the President Musharraf. A very impressive speech it was from a very learned Minister. However the topic suddenly changed to Kashmir and he advised the Indian guests to “pressurise your government” to solve the Kashmir problem. It was a quick aside, and the Minister quickly resumed his earlier discussion. Obviously, the politician had not forgotten that he would not be able to justify his existence to many unless he touched upon the Kashmir issue. Later in private conversation with the Minister, I found that he had great love for the Sikhs, ostensibly because his room-mate for 4 years during his University studies in the USA was a Sikh.
On my return journey a wise old Lahori smiled and remaked, “Tussi hun jum paye ho” ( “You are now born, having visited Lahore” How true!!
Tejinder Singh RawalM.Com, MA( Economics and Public Administration), LLB, FCA, ISA(ICA), CISA(USA), CISM(USA)Chartered AccountantE 13, Anjuman Complex, Sadar,Nagpur 440 001 IndiaPh: +91 712 2582923 Fax +91 712 2583522Email: tsrawal@tsrawal.com
Tejinder Singh Rawal
tsrawal@tsrawal.com
Jis ne Lahore nahi wekhya o jamya hi nai (One who has not seen Lahore is not yet born: your life is worthless if you have not seen Lahore) goes an old Punjabi saying. These words were constantly echoing in my mind when I received an invitation from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) for participating in a conference in Lahore. It was an invitation too difficult to resist.
Pakistan is a very special place for me, as it is for every member of the huge displaced Punjabi community, which suffered the pangs of the partition and settled in India, becoming refugees in their own country. I am born and brought up in India, of parents who hailed from that part of India, which is now Pakistan. My father and grandfather once lived in a small village called Akora Khattak in Nowshera in NWFP, while my mother and her relatives lived near Rawalpindi. So when ICAP extended an invitation to me to participate in a Conference in Lahore, I was so excited. For me a visit to Pakistan was a visit to my motherland, my matrabhumi, and I applied for the visa immediately.The first setback I received when the visa application was not accepted for processing by the Pakistan Embassy on the ground that they had not yet received the clearance from Ministry of Interiors. I live in Nagpur, a city in the central part of India, far off from Delhi. The planned day of my departure was 13th January and until 11th, the clearance of the Ministry of Interiors had not been received. I was in a tight corner: I could not book my air tickets or bus ticket since I did not have visa issued to me. I thought of giving up, but the desire to visit the place where my parents once lived was so great, I was determined to go. When I enquired about the bus service, I was told that the bus was booked fully until the 20th; in any case, they would not book my ticket unless I had a visa granted to me. Indian Airlines flies twice a week to Lahore and the days were not suitable to me.
I boarded a train to Delhi without a visa in my hand on 11th night. I instructed my travel agent to apply for visa again on 12th morning. I kept calling my agent from my cell during my journey and her reply was in the negative, every time I called, she would tell me that visa was yet to be processed. I reached Delhi, called her, she asked me to meet her in her office, and she expected the visa to be delivered by the time I reached there. Reaching her office, my joy knew no bounds when I found that my passport had been stamped with a visa to visit Pakistan. I had already my train ticket booked for Ludhiana by 8 PM train from Old Delhi station, and rushed there to board the train in time.
Next morning I was at Wagah border proudly showing my papers, when I received another setback: "Sorry sir, you can't cross the border on foot unless you have a foreign passport, or unless you have a special permission from Ministry of External Affairs" I vaguely remembered one of the delegates was talking about obtaining the permission, but since I was in time for the train at Atari, I decided to travel 5 kilometres to Atari and board the train, Samjhota Express, from there. Though subsequently the permission from the Ministry was received, I preferred the rail journey for the return trip also. I was wondering why they should give special privileges to foreign passport holders? I met an NRI, an American passport holder who proudly walked through Wagah whereas we lesser mortals are required to go through the ordeal of the train journey.The Indian officer at Atari gave me a strange look when he found a Sikh travelling to Pakistan, and looked at my visa with suspicion. Obviously, people who travel by Samjhota are the people in India and Pakistan who have relatives on the other side of the border. And there are only a handful of Sikhs who live in Pakistan. The visa read, 'Indian Delegation' and he enquired about the rest of the members of the delegation, I replied that he might consider me as a one-man delegation. He was certainly not amused. I then had to tell him politely that it was none of the business of the Indian authorities to look into the reason why the visa was granted, it was for the Pakistani authorities to look into that. The officer advised me to remove my disemarkment form from Passport and keep it safely elsewhere, since the officers on the other side were likely to throw it away, and I would have difficulties on return. I asked him, are they bad on us, his reply was, "Assi unha nu taan bilkul hi nahi bakshde, oh saanu kyoun bakshange?" ( "We certainly don't spare them, why would they spare us?") I noticed a similar attitude across the border also when I asked a Pakistani officer whether people sometimes cross the border illegally. "Tusi tapde ho, assi nahi" [ "You (guys) jump ( the border) we don't ], then added that it was 10 years ago at the height of the Punjab border, now it doesn't happen. I later realised that this hostility exists only at both side of the border, and is non-existent as you travel in the countries. Sparing these two incidences, I did not come across any other occasion when anybody spoke bad about people on the other side of the border.
The train journey is the most traumatic experience. This journey deserves an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the slowest train journey in the world. It may take you more than 12 hours to travel 60 kilometres!! First, nobody at the station will ever tell you when the train is likely to arrive. Time for the start of the train from Lahore is 8 AM, it reaches Wagah, the Pakistani side of the border where, all 400 odd passengers alight for immigration and customs clearance, the train restarts after all the passengers have been cleared, which usually happens in late afternoon. The train arrived at 3 PM, and we boarded the train. I found 3 more delegates at the station and we now became a delegation in true sense of the term. Having boarded the train, I congratulated myself thinking that it was only an hour more for me to reach Lahore!! When I asked the officers when the train reaches Lahore, everyone smiled, and like always were non-committal. The train, guarded by Indian army men, who rode on horseback to see off the train to Pakistan border, entered Pakistan, and soon we were at Wagah station, not knowing that we had to go through another frustrating experience. There were two immigration officers and two customs officers and they were supposed to clear more than 400 travellers. People travelled with so much baggage, as if they were moving house! Baskets of paan ( betel) leaves, yards of clothes, mixer-grinder, kitchen appliances were being carried by most of the passengers. I was also told that some of them even dissemble bicycles and carry them in their baggage, since the price of a bicycle in Pakistan is Rs 3000! The attitude of the officers was that of callousness and indifference. One officer would shout at people at the top of his voice, when I sarcastically told him he had a very impressive voice, he proudly said that when he shouted the BSF jawans at the Indian border could also hear him!
Samjhota Express, was an obsolete looking train and truly justified the name samjhota, compromise! Pakistan still manages with the technology that is at least 3 decades old. The train stopped a few kilometres before Lahore, since a Toyota van had obstructed the track! We finally reached Lahore in the middle of the night. To our pleasant surprise, our hosts were eagerly waiting for us at the railway station. Throughout our trip the hosts made sure that we were comfortable and showed great hospitality to all the Indian delegates. We were transported to our hotel at Mall Road. I had heard a lot about Lahore from my parents and grandparents, and was obviously not interested in sleeping, but would rather like to visit places even if it was the middle of the night. When I told this to Major Ajmal Masoon, Asstt Manager Admn, ICAP, he readily obliged, and took us straight to the Food Street at Gawalmandi. It is a pedestrians' lane, well lit, surrounded by pre-partition Indian architecture. It offers the choicest of Mughlai, Lahori, Pakistani and bar-be-cue cuisine at a very reasonable price. Even at such odd hours I could see so many people glutting, indeed Lahoris are voracious eaters whose lives revolve around food!Next morning we began our trip in the alleys and lanes of Anarkali, a place I had heard a lot bout from my parents and grandparents. Of all the bazaars in Lahore, Anarkali is most fascinating. You name anything and you get it here, whether it is leather goods, or handicrafts, or ethnic wears, or anything else under the sun. Legend has it that the bazaar was named after Anarkali who was Akbar's courtesan . She, according to legend was put to death by Emperor Akbar for having a love affair with prince Salim, later known as Jehangir. Anarkali is the place to discover the old world charm, the glib-talking shopkeepers who obviously enthused to see Indians visiting them, would not let you go without buying their stuff. The Food Street in Anarkali was a connoisseur’s delight. With a wide variety of food, it is sure to add inches to your waistline. It was a delight to see such dishes as katlamma, exotic kebabs and biryanis.What is most amazing is the attitude of the people in Pakistan. I being a turban wearing Sikh am too conspicuous to be ignored. "Sardarji Sat-sri-akal" the greetings followed me wherever I went. And I would reply to them with the same enthusiasm. People stopped us for no reasons just to greet us. "Assi twade tabedaar haan, tusi saade mulk aaye ho" ( “We are grateful to you for having come here”) was what was echoed everywhere we went. The offer to have a cup of tea with them was difficult to refuse, with the result that every few minutes I would be found sipping a cup of tea with a stranger who would narrate his experiences with great enthusiasm and would suggest that the border should be thrown open for the public of both countries to visit each other without restrictions. The shopkeepers would refuse to take money for the goods bought saying that they will not take any money from their guests. One small shop owner selling imarti was in tears when I offered him the money for a few pieces of piping hot imartis I had bought from him , “Tusi saade mehman o, assi Lahoriye pyaar de pukkhe haan, paise de nai” ( “You are our guests, we Lahoris want your love not money”) Even the autorikshaw-wallah would accept the fare only after much insistence!!
One of the most prominent structures in Lahore is the massive Lahore Fort which was built by Akbar in the 1560s, and which towers over the old city of Lahore. Then there is the famous Minar-e-Pakistan, where the Muslim League first passed a resolution for a separate Muslim nation. Opposite the Lahore Fort is the samadh of Guru Arjan Dev, who lost his life while fighting near here in the waters of the Ravi River, which used to flow past the Fort walls those days. Samadhi of Maharaja Ranjit Singh is located outside Lahore Fort.
More than the prominent historical buildings and structure, it is the bright dresses, beautiful women, warm hospitality, the hustle and bustle of the city and a happy-go-lucky attitude of people with genuine love for their own brethren from India, which left me spellbound. Despite what politicians on both sides of the border say!
Speaking of politicians, the Chief Guest in the ICAP Conference was Omar Ayub Khan, Minister of State for Finance , Pakistan, son of the ex-Foreign Minister Gohar Ayub and the grandson the the ex-President Field Marshall Ayub Khan. A very impressive young man Omar Ayub Khan spoke at length about the state of Pakistan economy and the rapid pace of progress of the country under the regime of the President Musharraf. A very impressive speech it was from a very learned Minister. However the topic suddenly changed to Kashmir and he advised the Indian guests to “pressurise your government” to solve the Kashmir problem. It was a quick aside, and the Minister quickly resumed his earlier discussion. Obviously, the politician had not forgotten that he would not be able to justify his existence to many unless he touched upon the Kashmir issue. Later in private conversation with the Minister, I found that he had great love for the Sikhs, ostensibly because his room-mate for 4 years during his University studies in the USA was a Sikh.
On my return journey a wise old Lahori smiled and remaked, “Tussi hun jum paye ho” ( “You are now born, having visited Lahore” How true!!
Tejinder Singh RawalM.Com, MA( Economics and Public Administration), LLB, FCA, ISA(ICA), CISA(USA), CISM(USA)Chartered AccountantE 13, Anjuman Complex, Sadar,Nagpur 440 001 IndiaPh: +91 712 2582923 Fax +91 712 2583522Email: tsrawal@tsrawal.com
posted by Dr. Tejinder Singh Rawal at 5:04 am
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