Just one single word – Border – but the myriad memories and images that it evokes connotes diverse things for different people. Beginning with the partition, through the wars with Pakistan, coupled with the on-going tension between the two nations of India and Pakistan, this word has acquired distinct implications. For many like us, sitting comfortably in our homes, cocooned in our safety nets, this word only triggers memories associated with newspaper articles, news channels specials and long-drawn drawing room discussions and analyses. The dictionary defines it as ‘boundary of a country or political region’. This cut and dried definition makes one wonder about the whole issue in a broader perspective. If only things were as simple and uncomplicated as the definition makes them sound. However, with the two countries being so similar in lifestyle, people, culture, society and most importantly having a history of being one nation earlier makes the issue even more problematic.

The fact that the British, for their personal advantage, initiated the idea of Partition and made it a reality before they left India, leaving a horrific and bloodstained legacy behind, is many a time lost out on us. Furthermore, this is one inheritance which has haunted and obsessed us ever since. It is like a chained hound from the horrific past, which time and again escapes and unleashes the same terror and devastation as at the time of the Partition. It changes shapes and forms, places and locations, but never the intensity of the destruction. And people in power and politicians forget the original ideology of ‘divide and rule’ of the super powers, in their own mad rush for power and supremacy. The result of this are the various outbreaks of violence not limited only to the borders of the country but also leaves the whole nation vulnerable.......