A true patriot lost with the demise of
Chacha Pakistan
31 minutes ago
Pride of the Wagah Border, "Chacha Pakistan" passes
away at 90. PHOTO: ONLINE
A man
called ‘Chacha Pakistani’
was at the flag lowering ceremony at the Wagah border every single day of the
year.
The
flag lowering ceremony, a ceremonial thumbing of the nose by the troops of
India on one side and Pakistan on the other, has taken place at the Wagah
border since 1959. Even though the contempt has since been toned down, it
remains a sort of civil baring of the teeth on either side, or as Michael Palin
described it, a ‘carefully choreographed contempt,’ of one neighbouringcountry
for the other.
Born Mehar Din ninety
years ago, Chacha Pakistani moved to Pakistan a bit after 1947. Never
married, or, as far as one can tell employed, he lived with his nephews
and imposed this border routine upon himself after the 1971 hostilities between
India and Pakistan. He donned his special clothes every day: the green Pakistani
flagcomplete with the crescent and star made into a long shirt, a
white shalwar, and a green hat. His white beard and erect bearing, coupled with
his resonant patriotic slogans audible well across the border, rendered him
somewhat larger than life, as much a distinctive feature of the ceremony as the
exaggeratedly turbaned soldiers on either side. So much so that the Pakistan
Rangers were moved to confer an award upon him for his services to the nation.
When he recently failed
to appear at the border for some days, however, officials do not appear to have
enquired why. The reason of course was that sadly, following a period of
illness, Mehar Dina akaChacha
Pakistan died yesterday (Sunday, October 21, 2012) at the age of 90.
When
larger than life personalities die it is almost too mundane an act for them to
be caught at, something they’d never do while alive, not but what a person only
ever dies while alive… but you know what I mean.
It appears that Pakistan
can boast more than a single ‘Chacha’. There is the other Chacha Pakistani, a
Mr Jawed Akhtar…and a Chacha
Cricket, a Mr Abdul Jalil. Jawed Akhtar is known for travelling from
mausoleum to mausoleum (Jinnah’s to Iqbal’s) on his motor bike, every year,
trying to raise patriotic sentiment among the youth, while Mr Jalil is a sort
of live cricket mascot, adopted by the Pakistan Cricket Board, a familiar
figure at every cricket match played by the Pakistan team.
It
makes it an interesting reflection…all these Chachas, why do they do it?
Why did
Mehar Din, make such an effort to get to the border daily for the past 40 years
and shout his support for Pakistan every single day?
Is this
being a patriot? Which is what, exactly?
Mark
Twain was not too impressed with patriots, because he defined a patriot as a
person who hollered the loudest without knowing what he was hollering about.
Adlai Stevenson, on the other hand defined patriotism as the tranquil and
steady dedication of a lifetime, rather than short, frenzied outbursts of
emotion.
Chacha
Pakistani lived in the small Pakistani village of Chandrai near the Wagah
border. When I say ‘near,’ I mean in terms of a comfortable ride in one’s own
car, because Chandrai is just 40km from the border. For Chacha however,
who neither owned nor drove a car, to attend the flag lowering ceremony meant a
hitched ride or two and even a walk part of the way every single evening, for
the past 40 years. Surely, this is a tranquil and steady dedication of a
lifetime, even though he did holler louder than everyone else once there.
The origin of the saying
that ‘there is more than one way to skin a cat’ is lost in the mist of time,
but every so often someone comes along who lives the idiom. The various
Prophets of history have stressed that each man worships according to his
ability, and worship manifests itself in different guises. Was it the Prophet
Moses who received a divine reprimand for chiding a woman on her very personal
method of demonstrating devotion
to God? The same surely applies to other sentiments, including
patriotism.
It is
not within every man’s power to build bridges, or lay down his life for his
country (in fact not everyone who can does build bridges). Patriotism, like
religion, has to be an expression of love for a homeland to the best of a
person’s ability. And against such a definition, Mehar Din was a patriot,
because he was steadfast in the expression of his love for his country, to the
best of his ability, almost all his life.
May his
soul rest in peace: Amen.
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