I woke up at 7am, did some TP on the net! Yes at 7 in the morning! Then woke up hubby dear for the morning cuppa tea! The kiddo, who is an early riser (only on holidays!) was shooed soon in the bath! And my best half finally made it to the shower after repeated requests turning into mild irritation and then finally into snatching the REMOTE (he is certainly not the best in this aspect).

With the 3 of us ready with breakfast , water bottles, snacks for the trip, et al, the wait for our friends was not for few seconds or for some minutes but seemed like forever!

It was for one and a half hour! So much for previous night discussions and plans!

Anyways, we started for our trip and reached the IB in no time, coz we had Kishore Kumar for company in the car.

Immediately after the official formalities, we started for the Border with an officer of the BSF accompanying us. The gate at the border painted with the Indian Tricolour suddenly gave an adrenaline rush! All of a sudden we all felt proud!

On the other side of the Indian gate, at the end of the road (which was divided in between by a barricade) was an identical gate (only in shape and size) with the flag of Pakistan painted on it.
After reaching the barricade, the Officer took us to our neighbor’s land (very close to the barricade only). Of course this trip to the foreign land didn’t require a visa or a passport!

The best part was a big tree which is partly on our land and partly in Pakistan. It was amazing to see that the tree in India had green leaves while the other part was in process to see the autumn!

And suddenly we see, 2 of our officers coming up to the barricade. One was carrying the white Peace flag and the other had some papers with him. They waved the peace flag and very soon a contingent of 8-10 pakistani officials came up to the barricade. They chatted comfortably for few minutes and then we were called to meet them too.

Our guys and the kids shook hands with our neighbors! And then Shiv, a 3 yr old refused to shake hands much after cajoling by his dad and mom! To this a Pakistani national (we don’t know his rank and also if he was in their army coz he was casually dressed in a white T), retorted, “See, what you have told about us even to your children!” There was lull!

And then our smart officer got us out of the situation by saying that the child is shy and he didn’t shook hands even with them! At that moment the UN vehicles came from both the sides and we soon made a return.

Clicked few memories with our Jawans, chatted with them for some time and finally returned back to our base.

On our way back, the talk was all about our army men, their tough life, risking of their lives to protect us and their family life. I don’t know, what we can do for them, but on my level, I can certainly keep them in my prayers!

It was a memory which will last our lifetime!