Believe it or not but these days the angry eye-balling and furious boot stomping that comprises the evening retreat parade at the India-Pakistan Border at Attari-Wagah west of Amritsar City, is running to jam-packed houses much like the opening of the latest Bollywood potboiler.
The Border Security Force, which is responsible for staging the spectacle in collaboration with Pakistan’s Sutlej Rangers, has taken to posting “Stadium Full” signs to try and control the seemingly endless flow of visitors that turn up to witness the joint parade by frontier guards from the two nuclear neighbours.
An estimated 10,000 to 15,000 Indians and foreign tourists come every evening and BSF officials say the available spectator stands are simply not adequate to accommodate everyone. “The number of visitors seems to have shot up as a result of summer vacations in schools. You see the retreat ceremony has become a mandatory destination for anyone who comes to the Golden Temple and Jalianwala Bagh in Amritsar,” an officer said.
Though the BSF had tried to make the border trip an easy one for all visitors through a number of new measures including the recruitment and deployment of woman troopers, officials say the crowds are now becoming “unmanageable” and they must turn away many each evening.