Sentinels of the Border: Lahore, Nostalgia and Home

This long and overdrawn silence reminds me of some of the most important things that I was unable to do so far. One such very significant thing was writing down about my travel to Lahore, Pakistan from New Delhi, India. Now, it's not every day that one gets a chance to hop on a bus to Gulberg, Lahore from Delhi Gate and that's what made it even more enthralling, the uncertainty attached to the whole process. I am trying to write this piece down in parts since emotions don't exist in whole or all at the same time. Emotions and nostalgia disappear and reappear, they breathe in and breathe out with every picture, with every reminisced moment. Therefore, it's in the details that I am able to recollect and cherish the journey, the people, the places, the events because after all, it was also my lovely friends Walima. It is hopefully going to shape into a photo essay of sorts where there is cross border locations & space, history, facts, relearning and unlearning of platitudes, revisiting a liminal South Asian identity and above all learnings of emotionality and sociality.

Consider this an entry point to the surreal reality that had been a dream for a very very long time. I was going to get the opportunity to travel across the border into Lahore, my grandmother's hometown. Being able to study and research the topic of displacement and migration amongst tribals at the borderlands of India and Pakistan this visit also coincided with my transition to a doctoral researcher at TISS Mumbai. It is rightly said the eventuality is already written you are merely executing it in this world. Thus, began a journey to the nostalgic home in search of the nothingness that is precious for many reasons.