Rendezvous at the Indo-Pakistan Border

Daljit Ami

Borders have emerged as an important variable of contemporary history. Many things have been written about borders. The creation and impact of borders have been discussed in detail.

Bordernama (Border Story, published by Naveen Publication, Amritsar) by Nirmal Singh Nimma is one such book that discusses a border from an insider's point of view. The author lives in a village very near the India-Pakistan border.Bordernama is an autobiography cum travelogue. It is an autobiography in the sense that it is the first person narrative of a life. Simultaneously it is a travelogue as it is all about his associations with other places and his visits to those places.

Nirmal grew up listening to the tales of his parents and neighborhood about areas in Pakistan. Most of the people in his village, Langha, are settlers who were displaced during the partition of Pakistan from India. This way they have their birthplaces in Pakistan. Their memories of childhood are associated with places in the neighboring country. These places are not far away from Langha but the international border makes these small distances long enough to be traveled by common people. Nirmal always felt invited by the places he came to know from the often-told tales of an older generation.


During the early 1980s, Nirmal joined Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU), Amritsar, for his master's in Punjabi literature. He opted to study Pakistani Punjabi literature as one of his options. Here were the characters he had come to know during his childhood while listening to the village elders. During studies, he found the places related to Sufi poets (Baba Bulleh Shah, Waris Shah, Shah Hussein, Gulam Farid) and Sikh gurus (Baba Nanak, Baba Arjun Dev) and other places related with Punjabi culture very inviting. His urge to meet the people living on the other side of border intensified. The artists and writers from across the border caught his imagination. He found himself in a situation where he could do anything to be there with them. His memories, unconscious culture and acquired knowledge joined to attract him to a society that by any reference was his own but partition had made it part of the other country. This other country -- Pakistan -- was supposed to be the enemy country. Nirmal asked some people who were involved in cross-border smuggling to take him along. Here was a citizen of an enemy country crossing the border illegally and with people doing illegal business to boot. This rendezvous is Bordernama.

The book is written as first person narrative but the subject is not confined to one person's experience. Many issues have been discussed in the margins. The book gives us glimpses of life near border, the lives of smugglers, the role of paramilitary forces (the Border Security Force of India and the Pakistani Rangers), cross-border associations, the longing for peace and love among common people from both sides of the border and the links as well as the impact of terrorism on communities living near the international border.

Nirmal writes an insider's narrative. The familiarization with the landscape and tracks, the flora-fauna, the flow and depth of Ravi's water (Ravi is the river that jig-jags between India and Pakistan in Punjab), the movement of paramilitary forces and the natural desire to be rid of the scarcities of life that makes rural youth of the area vulnerable.


Rich smugglers, intelligence agencies and opportunist politicians capitalize on this vulnerability. The rural youth work as porters for smugglers. When caught by state agencies from either country they are forced to work as spies. They can be killed by rival smugglers or paramilitary forces. They are an easy to discard and replace commodity. The exchange of money, smuggled goods, weapons and information influence life in more then one way. The prosperity of a few days attracts others to the risky business. If they survive, they may become addicted or vulnerable to getting caught or killed; then they are discarded by their profit-making smuggler masters and patriotic agencies. Once discarded, they live in penury and die miserable deaths.

Nirmal does not confine himself to this part only. He writes about the human relations these porters share with their counterparts in Pakistan. They are like an extended family. The people who are taking risks to earn money will go to any extent to help each other.

The story of Mindi is really touching. He was known for his efficiency in crossing the border. Once he was caught by Pakistani Rangers and thrown in a Kot Lakhpat jail. After an agreement, the prisoners were freed by Pakistan. In this way, Mindi returned from the enemy country. Now he is useless to his previous masters, because he is drug addict and cannot do anything. He has nothing to live off of. His old colleagues from across the border help him in every possible manner. This help cannot be explained in economic terms. They are under a human compulsion to reach out to help a friend in need. When Nirmal requested Mindi to take him to the other side, he reluctantly agreed. It had been more than a decade since he had crossed the border but Nirmal was surprised to see how warmly he was being treated in Pakistan by the families of his colleagues.

An elder woman complains about her sons and daughters-in-law in the evening, the daughters-in-law complain about her in the morning. These conversations speak volumes about their relations and the values they share. They are from two different countries doing illegal business but have a common culture that binds them like a family. The elders of the enemy country advise, scold and put pressure on them to live honorable lives, get rid of drugs and take care of their families.

Nirmal's interaction with Manha opens a very important chapter on the history of Punjab. He rowed many people (Hindus and Sikhs) across the Ravi during partition without charging a penny. Despite being a Musalman (Muslim man) he is taking care of Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib, a Sikh religious place associated with Guru Nanak. Manha addresses Baba Nanak as Nanak Pir (in Islam, Pir is someone very close to God or like God). People from neighboring areas come to Nanak Pir's place to get their wishes fulfilled. Manha's knowledge of Guru Granth Sahib, his longings for Sikh friends who left during partition and the following of Nanak Pir unfolds the tragedy of partition borne by common people and marks the presence of syncretism as an invaluable variable of life.

Nirmal's arrest in Pakistan and his release is another chapter on the unconditional love of those smugglers for a guest. The smugglers become just human beings during that period of crises. They bribe, use their acquaintances and approach the authorities through relatives to set Nirmal free. For them, Nirmal's safety is keeping the trust of a friend. They'd do anything to keep that trust.

During his many visits, Nirmal noticed changes on the border and in the political scenario surrounding it. Two boys of his acquaintance started smuggling weapons for terrorists in India and earned a great deal of money. They engage in human trafficking. They ensure border-crossings for those who want to join terrorist training camps on the other side. In the end, they become terrorists and are commanders of self-proclaimed separatist outfits only to be killed by the police. This transformation is well documented in Bordernama.

The book is inviting for more then one reason. It can be a trendsetter and has an agenda for social science. Nirmal convincingly argues that the border has different meanings for different people. Those who are living near the international border have borne the creation of it in an altogether different fashion. They have suffered and sufferings are continuously changing their forms. Bordernama shows that although the border between India and Pakistan was marked out in 1947 but that the process of its creation continues. The installation of barbed wire is a culmination of a phase. Bordernama invites scholars, intellectuals and journalists to explore issues hitherto ignored.

(This article was published on news portal OhmyNews on July 10, 2007
http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?menu=c10400&no=371147&rel_no=1)