Aug. 31 – When Pakistan was born from the independence of India in 1947, it was said magical things happened on either side of midnight. Children born within five minutes of midnight possessed powers beyond that of humans, a tale expanded on in Salman Rushdie’s “Midnight’s Children” – the only book to win the “Booker of Bookers” Prize – in effect, providing it with the title of the best novel written, anywhere, for the past 40 years.
But while magic gave way to strife and distrust, three wars and the slide into chaos and anarchy of a once proud young country, a sense of surrealism still surrounds the relationship between Pakistan and India. Witness then, courtesy of the BBC and narrated by Michael Palin, the daily closing of the border ritual between the two sides.
Recommended Reading
Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
