Rakesh Ahuja @DwnlodingMyMind · May 20, 2025

The Beating of Retreat ceremony at Attari-Wagah on the Indo-Pak border is apparently set to resume this week. This is extraordinary. Merely two weeks ago, the two were waging a near full-scale war that could have spiralled out of control, even apparently, into the nuclear dimension!! In this rite, soldiers from respective armies ape each other side by side, foot by foot. That apart, it is difficult to discern the purpose of this colonial liturgy relic unless it is simply the lure of lucre (from the spectators). Does the Indian polity not recognise that this long-standing ritual subliminally reinforces the impression of India's equivalence with Pakistan? That, ironically enough, one enduring objective of Indian foreign policy is to disabuse the world of any such parity? A part of the explanation, at least, may lie in the #HinduMind. It is suffused with veneration for rituals and (repetitive) mantras. The form is idealised; the substance is secondary. The British objective was to show the Empire's might to its subjects. What is the objective of the (secular) Republic of India?