Machine Elf
03-23-2010, 10:42 PM
For those not familiar with the original Monty Python sketch titled "Ministry of Silly Walks", click here for some relevant background. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqhlQfXUk7w)
For those already well-versed in Monty Python, click here for the real life version, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ0ue-XGl9c) as portrayed in a formal Indo-Pakistani border closing ceremony, conducted every evening at sunset. You have never seen professional soldiers yell so loudly, dress so flamboyantly and move so ridiculously, all while keeping absolutely straight faces as they perform their required duties with flawless precision.
After all the laughing (on my part), the cross-border handshake at 2:23 did give me a warm fuzzy feeling. :)
There are a number of videos on Youtube about the ceremony, including one from a travel show narrated by Michael Palin. If his description is accurate, then the entire ceremony is a ritualized display of contempt, a way to convey a hearty "fuck you" to your counterparts on the other side of the border without any bullets actually being fired.
Palin's travel show segment is here. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9y2qtaopbE) The video quality isn't as good as my first link, but the narration is informative. Interestingly enough, Michael Palin was not only one of the original Monty Python players, he was actually one of the two actors appearing in the original "Ministry of Silly Walks" sketch I linked to above. :D
There's a Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagah) about the border city and that ceremony. From that article:
As the relations between the two nations improved, the joint talks to tone down the sunset ceremony were held between BSF and Pakistan rangers, and the two later started "reorienting" their personnel involved in the ceremony,[24] effects of which were seen by November 2006, when the evening ceremony at the border was considerably less aggressive than in previous decades on both sides.
An article (reference 24 in above paragraph) (http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040405/asp/nation/story_3088207.asp) here about the toning down of the ceremony, with much more detail.
Very interesting. :cool:
For those already well-versed in Monty Python, click here for the real life version, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ0ue-XGl9c) as portrayed in a formal Indo-Pakistani border closing ceremony, conducted every evening at sunset. You have never seen professional soldiers yell so loudly, dress so flamboyantly and move so ridiculously, all while keeping absolutely straight faces as they perform their required duties with flawless precision.
After all the laughing (on my part), the cross-border handshake at 2:23 did give me a warm fuzzy feeling. :)
There are a number of videos on Youtube about the ceremony, including one from a travel show narrated by Michael Palin. If his description is accurate, then the entire ceremony is a ritualized display of contempt, a way to convey a hearty "fuck you" to your counterparts on the other side of the border without any bullets actually being fired.
Palin's travel show segment is here. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9y2qtaopbE) The video quality isn't as good as my first link, but the narration is informative. Interestingly enough, Michael Palin was not only one of the original Monty Python players, he was actually one of the two actors appearing in the original "Ministry of Silly Walks" sketch I linked to above. :D
There's a Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagah) about the border city and that ceremony. From that article:
As the relations between the two nations improved, the joint talks to tone down the sunset ceremony were held between BSF and Pakistan rangers, and the two later started "reorienting" their personnel involved in the ceremony,[24] effects of which were seen by November 2006, when the evening ceremony at the border was considerably less aggressive than in previous decades on both sides.
An article (reference 24 in above paragraph) (http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040405/asp/nation/story_3088207.asp) here about the toning down of the ceremony, with much more detail.
Very interesting. :cool: