The two neighbouring countries India and Pakistan may be at daggers drawn fighting each other for every inch of space and every political move is followed by a check-mate in retaliation. The governments also have an organized propaganda against the other side pumping the people with pure hatred, hence to create an environment of mistrust.
The people on the other hand are pleasantly the same ‘ol loving human being inhabiting both sides of the border, how true it was when I met a fellow blogger from Mumbai, Amit Varma of India uncut who was in Karachi to cover the test match between Pakistan and India scheduled to start on Sunday. He has been touring with the team for a good 20 days and is planning to remain in Pakistan for another 10 odd days until the third one-day match. We happend to be co-bloggers on the Metroblogging network, Amit belonging to Mumbai Metroblog and myself taking an active part in Karachi Metroblog, and both incidentaly happen to also be on the team at Desicritics.org.
You can say that one thing led to the other and somehow we mutually decided on a dinner when he would arrive in Karachi. When meeting a complete stranger for the first time its normal to have butterflies wander in suspense but from the very first handshake he came across as an extremely friendly person and an accomplished journalist / blogger to be my friendly ambassador representing India, his company was more than enjoyable and the dinner was very entertaining, not a moment went by where there was even a dull moment to the evening.
I was delighted, infact honored to have met such a fine gentlemen from across the border and feel a more pleasant interaction between the two nations should take place to further soften the hearts amongst the people and maybe even a peaceful co-existence between the two nations. Thank you Amit for a lovely evening it was heartening to have created a good friend across the border – Cheers.
I would like to propose an initiative amongst all the internet geniuses / bloggers representing both nations who happen to read this post to somehow join hands on a mutual platform on the web and work together for creating such Friendships Across Borders.
Comments
5 responses to “Friendship across Borders”
Excellent thoughts, sir – I strongly urge you post this to Desicritics, and we truly realize the potential of the Internet as a boundaryless space.
My housemate is an annoying bhopali, so i think i’m doin my part.
Why don’t my comments appear on the karachi metblog? is my email addy or url blocked or sth?
nice to hear that!!!
Hi Sir,
well I am new to blogging and not an expert as you can find out but I admire “India Uncut”. Read your blog (through a link on India Uncut)and liked it a lot…..
Share your point on the cross border feelings….
Deepak
I liked your idea in this post and was thinking of something like it when I named my blog ‘People become stories and stories become understanding’.
I think blogging is an incredibly powerful tool because once you come to know individuals you can no longer generalise; no longer discard a race or religion due to the unacceptable behaviour of a few.
I’m a New Zealander who has just come from two years living in Turkey, and I now live in Belgium. I have learned so much about people … about the way fear and ignorance about ‘the other’ motivates some incredibly disturbing behaviours.
The original quote came from a journalist called Kevin Sites. He wrote: ‘The world becomes countries, the countries become people, the people become stories, the stories become understanding. The world of stories becomes manageable.’