Trips, letters help bridge divides

When students from Okhla’s Dev Samaj School went to Pakistan on a student-exchange trip last year, many were apprehensive about what they would encounter. “We were walking on a street and hadn’t changed currencies yet. We stopped at a chai thela and realised we were short of cash. We informed the shopkeeper about our situation, but he didn’t listen. Then we happened to mention we were from India and his attitude totally changed. Not only did he refuse to take anything from us, but he insisted on putting some butter in our chai too. It melted away all my reservations about Pakistan,” Richa Sharma, one of the students, said.

Such anecdotes were part of general conversation at the Pakistan High Commission on Thursday, where Indian and Pakistani students spoke about their travel experiences in each others countries. The student exchange programme was organised by Citizen Archives of Pakistan in association with Indian NGO Routes2Roots.

The High Commission is hosting a 50-member Pakistani delegation, including 30 students, who are currently on a week long trip to India. The visiting students, who are from 15 schools in Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi and Islamabad, arrived in Delhi on Sunday.

“I find it so ironic… We are so similar. In fact, barring our religion and festivals, I find no difference between us at all. Even our monuments look similar — ama Masjid reminds me of Badshahi Masjid in my country,” Nadir Hamidi, a student from Karachi, said.

Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit, said, “Because you have the capacity to transcend subjectivities, you have the means available to connect to and understand each other better, better than we ever have.”