Railways and borders

Railways and borders 

I had to visit the main Lahore railway station, built by the British in the 19th century. It is a magnificant red brick building. The inside areas were remarkably plain, being plain white walls.

One of the railway tracks inside

 view along one of the platforms.

A train getting ready to depart with friends and family saying goodbye to loved ones.

There were rows and rows of cargo wagons stationary in the sidings. There are no warning signs and people are free to walk wherever they want including crossing the tracks and ducking under wagons. And despite this free access, there was no grafetti. Perhaps grafetti is only a western scourge of society and a lack of respect for other peoples property and our environment.

Inside one of the economy railway carriages

Thre were plenty of locomotives moving about and I took several pictures of them as I know that there are a lot of people out there who love trains. Many train lovers are closet greasers.

And more locomotives...

...there are few differences to my eye but gresers can see every tiny diference...

..in every locomotive...

...however small.

We passed another platform as we headed for a side exit.

Outside the main entrance was another old locomotive, largely black with some red and white trim. It is resting surrounded by parkland that was fenced off. The bushes around the bottom of the engine obscured the wheel alignment design and there was no angle to count the sets of wheels.

The two main towers of the station, each side with a clock face. The design is reminescent of St Stephen's Tower at the Houses of Parliament which houses Big Ben. 

Lahore is where the main pakistani railway offices are located. They also have their own police force whose headquarters are also in the city. And being railway police, guess what is located in front of their building? a large locomotive.

WE walked through yet another bazaar. I am usually only interested in old architecture but this building caught my eye as the three adjacent buildings were all decorated with patterned tiles.

A former colonial communications building,now repurposed as an art college.

And then it was a drive to the border crossing with India. It is called the Wagah Border Crossing and it is the only land link between the two countries. The long queue to get to the border. None of these people were actulaay going to cross. They were only going to see the border closing ceremony.

A view of the crossing.

The actual border. This side of the gates is Pakistan, and just one metre apart are the gates into India. Beyond the gates are the extensive visitors stands, more like an amphitheatre or stadium overlooking the road up to the border.

There was a lot of flag waving to amuse the crowds.

It is a very popular event judging by the thosands of people gathered to witness it. This ceremony happens every day.

The guards are dressed in ceremonial uniforms.

The Indian flag.

Two of the guards walking along the road in front of the gates.

Then the ceremony started with more co-ordinated flag waving. Each side had music blaring out over loudspeakers trying to deafen each other's music. Then there was a series of music, first by one side and then by the other as if it was some musical play-off. At the end of each piece of music, spectators were encouraged to cheer and clap teir wn sides' performance.

The there was a lot of marching up and down...

...this time with drummers with the music repeeated over loud speakers.

There was more marching...

...more exaggerated marching steps, these two were women...

...with more march steps and slamming of feet to add to the noise...

The guards were marched up to the gates with displays of flags.

The gates were ceremoniously opened. The officers on each said did some drill work and more exaggerated marching, saluting and presenting of arms. It was another ceremony accompanied by shouting and cheering as the officers appeared to be challenging each other.

Another view of the stand off ceremony by the officers.

And then it was all over. With more music, cheering and shouting of orders to soldiers, the gates were closed. This is the only border crossing open between the two countries. But traffic wanting to cross doesn't cross here. This is all for show. The functional crossing with customs, immigration, visa control and all the rest is a kilometre to the north.