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This is one of the world's most dangerous borders, | 0:00:02 | 0:00:05 | |
holding neighbours India and Pakistan apart. | 0:00:05 | 0:00:09 | |
2,000 miles long, it slices through extraordinary landscapes | 0:00:09 | 0:00:13 | |
and divides millions of people who once lived alongside each other. | 0:00:13 | 0:00:18 | |
I'm Babita Sharma. | 0:00:20 | 0:00:21 | |
70 years ago, my family, as Hindus, | 0:00:21 | 0:00:24 | |
were forced to move into newly-independent India. | 0:00:24 | 0:00:28 | |
Primarily I identify with being British. That's who I am - | 0:00:28 | 0:00:31 | |
I was born and brought up in Britain. | 0:00:31 | 0:00:33 | |
But I'm also really passionate about my culture as an Indian person. | 0:00:33 | 0:00:39 | |
I'm going to be travelling the border from the Indian side. | 0:00:40 | 0:00:43 | |
Wow! It's mind-blowing! | 0:00:43 | 0:00:45 | |
I'm Adnan Sarwar and my parents, who are Muslim, | 0:00:46 | 0:00:49 | |
were born in what is now Pakistan. | 0:00:49 | 0:00:51 | |
I've got to know what it means to be a Pakistani | 0:00:52 | 0:00:55 | |
and what it means to these people here living as Pakistanis | 0:00:55 | 0:00:57 | |
and what it means to my mum and dad to be Pakistanis. | 0:00:57 | 0:01:01 | |
I'm going to be travelling the length of the border | 0:01:01 | 0:01:03 | |
on the Pakistan side. | 0:01:03 | 0:01:05 | |
A country that's just 70 years old. | 0:01:05 | 0:01:07 | |
Have you ever seen water like this? Look at the colour of it. | 0:01:07 | 0:01:10 | |
When Britain gave India its independence, | 0:01:10 | 0:01:12 | |
it split the nation along religious lines, | 0:01:12 | 0:01:15 | |
carving out a new Muslim state. | 0:01:15 | 0:01:17 | |
Since then, there have been frequent conflicts along this border | 0:01:19 | 0:01:22 | |
that, to this day, very few can cross. | 0:01:22 | 0:01:25 | |
You can't know Pakistan unless you know partition. | 0:01:26 | 0:01:29 | |
GUNFIRE | 0:01:29 | 0:01:30 | |
They're just saying, "We want independence. | 0:01:30 | 0:01:32 | |
"Go, India. Go, Pakistan. We just want to be free." | 0:01:32 | 0:01:36 | |
Yet, after two generations apart, | 0:01:36 | 0:01:40 | |
these two countries, with such strong ties to Britain, | 0:01:40 | 0:01:43 | |
still have so much in common and so much to celebrate. | 0:01:43 | 0:01:48 | |
It's fantastic. We're going to have a great night here tonight. | 0:01:48 | 0:01:50 | |
My gosh, I have just found a whole new family | 0:01:50 | 0:01:52 | |
I didn't even know existed. | 0:01:52 | 0:01:54 | |
We're making two journeys with the same goal - | 0:01:54 | 0:01:57 | |
to discover how a line on the map | 0:01:57 | 0:01:59 | |
has altered the destinies of two countries that were once one. | 0:01:59 | 0:02:03 | |
For the next five weeks, | 0:02:20 | 0:02:21 | |
Adnan and I are going to be travelling either side | 0:02:21 | 0:02:24 | |
of the 2,000-mile-long border that divides India and Pakistan | 0:02:24 | 0:02:29 | |
from south to north. | 0:02:29 | 0:02:31 | |
The state of Gujarat marks the start of the border here. | 0:02:33 | 0:02:37 | |
I really just want to find out how India has managed to repair itself, | 0:02:37 | 0:02:41 | |
or has it repaired itself after all this time? | 0:02:41 | 0:02:44 | |
You know, 70 years on, where are we? | 0:02:44 | 0:02:47 | |
What is life like for these people here on the border? | 0:02:47 | 0:02:50 | |
My journey starts in Adipur in the south of Gujarat, | 0:02:56 | 0:02:59 | |
before I head east to the Little Rann of Kutch. | 0:02:59 | 0:03:02 | |
I'll then be heading north towards the border | 0:03:02 | 0:03:04 | |
into the mighty Thar Desert, | 0:03:04 | 0:03:07 | |
covering more than 500 miles on this first leg. | 0:03:07 | 0:03:09 | |
The small town of Adipur is 80 miles from the border. | 0:03:16 | 0:03:19 | |
It's a very special town, | 0:03:21 | 0:03:23 | |
created as a home for the refugees who fled Pakistan at partition, | 0:03:23 | 0:03:28 | |
but it has an even greater significance for India | 0:03:28 | 0:03:31 | |
and the people of Gujarat. | 0:03:31 | 0:03:33 | |
On the right side is the Gandhi Samadhi, | 0:03:33 | 0:03:35 | |
which has the ashes of Gandhi. | 0:03:35 | 0:03:37 | |
This place has the ashes of Gandhi? | 0:03:37 | 0:03:40 | |
That's quite a moment, actually, to pass somewhere | 0:03:40 | 0:03:42 | |
where Gandhiji's ashes are scattered. | 0:03:42 | 0:03:44 | |
Deepika tells me, a son of Gujarat, Gandhi convinced the local Maharaja | 0:03:46 | 0:03:51 | |
to donate land for a refugee camp which became the town of Adipur. | 0:03:51 | 0:03:57 | |
And amazing to think that in 70 years, | 0:03:58 | 0:04:01 | |
what was once a refugee camp has now become a whole town. | 0:04:01 | 0:04:06 | |
We are inside Adipur right now. | 0:04:06 | 0:04:09 | |
What's happening here? | 0:04:09 | 0:04:10 | |
-Shall we go have a look? -Yeah, let's go and have a look. | 0:04:10 | 0:04:13 | |
What are they doing? | 0:04:13 | 0:04:14 | |
It looks like some kind of Charlie Chaplin convention going on here. | 0:04:28 | 0:04:31 | |
-My name's Babita. -Hi, I'm Twinkle. -Twinkle, nice to meet to you. | 0:04:35 | 0:04:39 | |
So what's happening here today? | 0:04:39 | 0:04:41 | |
We are celebrating Charlie Chaplin's birthday. | 0:04:41 | 0:04:43 | |
VOICEOVER: And it was a local Charlie Chaplin fan | 0:04:43 | 0:04:46 | |
who was the brainchild behind this wonderfully bizarre celebration | 0:04:46 | 0:04:50 | |
of his birthday. | 0:04:50 | 0:04:52 | |
There's an even more charming side to this story. | 0:04:52 | 0:04:55 | |
In 1931, Gandhi met Chaplin at his house in London. | 0:04:55 | 0:05:00 | |
It was a meeting between two of the most recognised icons | 0:05:00 | 0:05:03 | |
of the 20th century. | 0:05:03 | 0:05:05 | |
And how fitting it is that this Charlie Chaplin festival, | 0:05:08 | 0:05:11 | |
which has been celebrated here since the 1970s, | 0:05:11 | 0:05:14 | |
is in the resting place of Gandhi's ashes. | 0:05:14 | 0:05:17 | |
You see so many Charlie Chaplins who are in the town, | 0:05:17 | 0:05:19 | |
because Charlie Chaplin taught us to laugh, | 0:05:19 | 0:05:22 | |
even in spite of all our problems. | 0:05:22 | 0:05:24 | |
I don't know what to say. | 0:05:24 | 0:05:26 | |
-The fact you've got a day dedicated to Charlie Chaplin... -Absolutely. | 0:05:26 | 0:05:29 | |
-The whole town. -Everybody here... | 0:05:29 | 0:05:30 | |
We have fun, a party, music. | 0:05:30 | 0:05:33 | |
So it's going to just get crazier. | 0:05:33 | 0:05:35 | |
Twinkle tells me they took a British-born Hollywood icon, | 0:05:38 | 0:05:42 | |
added a bit of Bollywood masala | 0:05:42 | 0:05:44 | |
to create a unique festival of their own, | 0:05:44 | 0:05:46 | |
and it's put this former refugee town on the tourist map. | 0:05:46 | 0:05:50 | |
Gandhiji, who is resting just behind me, | 0:05:52 | 0:05:54 | |
may well be smiling down on this parade, | 0:05:54 | 0:05:57 | |
and perhaps he's even proud that his own legacy | 0:05:57 | 0:06:00 | |
lives on in this very unique way. | 0:06:00 | 0:06:02 | |
My God. If I don't come home back to London, Mum and Dad, I love you! | 0:06:04 | 0:06:09 | |
I'm 230 miles west of where Babita is in Adipur. | 0:06:22 | 0:06:25 | |
My journey starts here on the south coast of Pakistan, in Karachi. | 0:06:27 | 0:06:31 | |
After spending some time getting to know Karachi, | 0:06:33 | 0:06:37 | |
I'll be travelling as close to the Indian border as I can... | 0:06:37 | 0:06:40 | |
..and follow it into the Thar Desert, a total of 300 miles. | 0:06:43 | 0:06:47 | |
I want to explore the side of Pakistan that very few people, | 0:06:57 | 0:06:59 | |
including me, ever see. | 0:06:59 | 0:07:01 | |
And Karachi, the largest and most important city in this country, | 0:07:02 | 0:07:06 | |
is its beating heart and the best place to start. | 0:07:06 | 0:07:10 | |
Just bought some, er...Tibet Cream. | 0:07:12 | 0:07:16 | |
It's a cream that my mum used to use a lot | 0:07:16 | 0:07:19 | |
and I think that we've still got this in the house in Burnley. | 0:07:19 | 0:07:22 | |
Wow, smells like childhood. | 0:07:22 | 0:07:25 | |
Oh, yeah, it's fresh like snow. | 0:07:28 | 0:07:30 | |
Karachi did pretty well out of partition. | 0:07:33 | 0:07:35 | |
Almost one million Muslims from all over India came here. | 0:07:35 | 0:07:38 | |
Intellectuals, artists and entrepreneurs arrived, | 0:07:40 | 0:07:44 | |
determined to build a new nation. | 0:07:44 | 0:07:46 | |
And this creative energy | 0:07:48 | 0:07:49 | |
has turned a town of around half a million into this - | 0:07:49 | 0:07:53 | |
a vibrant metropolis of over 20 million people. | 0:07:53 | 0:07:57 | |
This guy's got no petrol in his motorbike. | 0:07:57 | 0:07:59 | |
He's just hitching rides with rickshaws. Brilliant! | 0:07:59 | 0:08:02 | |
Like London, Karachi is diverse | 0:08:06 | 0:08:09 | |
and, even though it's a bit of a bubble, | 0:08:09 | 0:08:11 | |
everything that happens here has a ripple effect | 0:08:11 | 0:08:13 | |
on the rest of the country. | 0:08:13 | 0:08:15 | |
I think one of the best ways to understand a society | 0:08:15 | 0:08:18 | |
is through its cultural expression. | 0:08:18 | 0:08:20 | |
So I'm on my way to Clifton, the upmarket part of town. | 0:08:20 | 0:08:24 | |
Abid Merchant, a former banker, established this public art gallery | 0:08:28 | 0:08:32 | |
three years ago. | 0:08:32 | 0:08:33 | |
-This is, you know, contemporary art from Pakistan. -Yeah. | 0:08:33 | 0:08:37 | |
It's basically the emerging artists whom we believe have the potential | 0:08:37 | 0:08:42 | |
to make it big in the international market. | 0:08:42 | 0:08:45 | |
Lots of people will see a different side of Pakistan. | 0:08:45 | 0:08:49 | |
-VOICEOVER: -23-year-old Amina Rahman is one of Abid's rising stars | 0:08:50 | 0:08:54 | |
who is showing her work here. | 0:08:54 | 0:08:55 | |
Oh, wow. | 0:08:55 | 0:08:56 | |
-Would this be seen as controversial in Pakistan? -To some, yes. | 0:08:56 | 0:09:01 | |
The more you're covered, the more you're playing safe. | 0:09:01 | 0:09:05 | |
-You're acceptable if you're covered? -Yeah. | 0:09:05 | 0:09:07 | |
Actually, there are other works which are more explicit. | 0:09:07 | 0:09:10 | |
Oh, wow. | 0:09:10 | 0:09:12 | |
Are those pictures on your Instagram? | 0:09:12 | 0:09:14 | |
Um, not on my Instagram cos we can't... | 0:09:14 | 0:09:16 | |
You can't what? You can't...? | 0:09:16 | 0:09:18 | |
Exhibit it very openly. | 0:09:18 | 0:09:21 | |
It's not even safe for me. | 0:09:21 | 0:09:23 | |
So the art you're making is... | 0:09:23 | 0:09:26 | |
It's making the situation unsafe for you? | 0:09:26 | 0:09:28 | |
Yeah. | 0:09:28 | 0:09:30 | |
But you're going to keep doing it? | 0:09:30 | 0:09:32 | |
Till I'm here, yes. | 0:09:32 | 0:09:34 | |
You have to create because, you know, that's how this place is. | 0:09:36 | 0:09:41 | |
-VOICEOVER: -I reckon Amina's pretty brave | 0:09:41 | 0:09:43 | |
to be taking risks for her art, and she's certainly not alone | 0:09:43 | 0:09:46 | |
in challenging the conservative culture around her. | 0:09:46 | 0:09:51 | |
For the last ten years, | 0:09:51 | 0:09:52 | |
Abid has been supporting artists with a similar rebellious streak, | 0:09:52 | 0:09:56 | |
and I've just talked myself into being invited back to his apartment | 0:09:56 | 0:09:59 | |
to see his private collection. | 0:09:59 | 0:10:01 | |
Come on, Adnan. | 0:10:04 | 0:10:06 | |
-Oh, wow. -The apartment. -Wow! | 0:10:07 | 0:10:10 | |
Oh, my God! | 0:10:11 | 0:10:12 | |
This is a lot better than my flat. | 0:10:14 | 0:10:16 | |
Walking in, you'd see just another apartment. | 0:10:16 | 0:10:19 | |
So that's Karachi. | 0:10:19 | 0:10:21 | |
I live in Notting Hill and I've got a flat which is about this size. | 0:10:21 | 0:10:26 | |
OK, you have a studio apartment? | 0:10:26 | 0:10:28 | |
-It's basically a bedroom. -OK, it's a bedroom. | 0:10:28 | 0:10:31 | |
That means you can't hang art in your apartment. | 0:10:31 | 0:10:33 | |
I've got limited wall space, yeah. | 0:10:33 | 0:10:36 | |
Well, I've got limited wall space also, so that's where you see. | 0:10:36 | 0:10:39 | |
It's huge, mate. | 0:10:39 | 0:10:40 | |
That is REALLY great. | 0:10:42 | 0:10:44 | |
Sexuality and freedom has always been a part of Pakistani art, | 0:10:45 | 0:10:49 | |
right if you go back to the '40s and the '50s. | 0:10:49 | 0:10:53 | |
Maybe five years ago, seven years ago, | 0:10:53 | 0:10:55 | |
the global art market wanted to see Pakistani artists | 0:10:55 | 0:10:59 | |
making violence and terrorism as a subject. | 0:10:59 | 0:11:02 | |
-Because it was easier for them to understand? -Understand. -Yeah. | 0:11:02 | 0:11:05 | |
So anything which has a global language | 0:11:05 | 0:11:07 | |
would be easy to understand. | 0:11:07 | 0:11:08 | |
Wow. | 0:11:08 | 0:11:10 | |
I know this one. | 0:11:10 | 0:11:12 | |
This is Liberty Leads To Freedom? | 0:11:12 | 0:11:15 | |
No, the artist has appropriated Liberty into his painting | 0:11:15 | 0:11:19 | |
and he calls it Azadi Ki Devi, The Woman Of Freedom. | 0:11:19 | 0:11:23 | |
That's basically Qandeel Baloch leading the people to freedom. | 0:11:23 | 0:11:28 | |
-VOICEOVER: -A young woman from a rural town, | 0:11:28 | 0:11:30 | |
Qandeel Baloch became famous | 0:11:30 | 0:11:32 | |
as a controversial social media phenomenon. | 0:11:32 | 0:11:35 | |
She directly challenged prudish attitudes towards women. | 0:11:35 | 0:11:39 | |
She was kind of a Pakistani Kim Kardashian | 0:11:39 | 0:11:42 | |
until her selfies with a religious leader was seen as a step too far... | 0:11:42 | 0:11:46 | |
He's too good. He is too good. Oh, my God. | 0:11:46 | 0:11:51 | |
..and so her brother killed her. | 0:11:51 | 0:11:54 | |
And then we have the famous ulama, | 0:11:54 | 0:11:57 | |
-who took selfies of her on the left, if you see. -Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. | 0:11:57 | 0:12:00 | |
It is the power of art, isn't it? | 0:12:00 | 0:12:02 | |
This kind of thing happened and it transmitted this feeling into people | 0:12:02 | 0:12:06 | |
and somebody needed to do this, to put it out there | 0:12:06 | 0:12:10 | |
and then hopefully this will be seen. | 0:12:10 | 0:12:12 | |
By art, you can change the entire community. | 0:12:12 | 0:12:15 | |
And it's not just artists in galleries who are doing it. | 0:12:20 | 0:12:23 | |
This creative expression is spilling out on to the streets... | 0:12:23 | 0:12:26 | |
..and it starts right here on the catwalks of Karachi. | 0:12:28 | 0:12:31 | |
As a Pakistan, | 0:12:49 | 0:12:50 | |
it's all about the media telling bad stuff about the country. | 0:12:50 | 0:12:53 | |
So this is very, very important for us to portray ourself in a way | 0:12:53 | 0:12:57 | |
so people can like us. | 0:12:57 | 0:12:59 | |
The way I'm dressed right now, | 0:13:02 | 0:13:04 | |
-I just won't go anywhere in Karachi dressed like this. -Yeah, OK. | 0:13:04 | 0:13:08 | |
So, what, you'd cover your arms? | 0:13:08 | 0:13:10 | |
I will cover my arms, yes, which is fine, | 0:13:10 | 0:13:12 | |
because we live in an Islamic state. | 0:13:12 | 0:13:15 | |
Living in an Islamic state, it says to cover yourself, right, | 0:13:15 | 0:13:18 | |
so there's nothing bad in that. | 0:13:18 | 0:13:20 | |
I completely recognise this tensions that Pakistanis feel. | 0:13:24 | 0:13:27 | |
We want to be modern but, at the same time, | 0:13:27 | 0:13:29 | |
we don't want to entirely reject our Muslim heritage. | 0:13:29 | 0:13:32 | |
The fashion industry here is potentially worth billions | 0:13:41 | 0:13:44 | |
and what's interesting is that the biggest market | 0:13:44 | 0:13:46 | |
for Pakistani designer clothes is India. | 0:13:46 | 0:13:49 | |
These young models and designers | 0:13:50 | 0:13:52 | |
have become sort of accidental ambassadors for their country. | 0:13:52 | 0:13:55 | |
How many people have you got on Instagram? | 0:13:59 | 0:14:01 | |
-I think I'm going to beat you here. -Oh, definitely you would. | 0:14:01 | 0:14:03 | |
-Let's have a look. -Definitely would. -OK. | 0:14:03 | 0:14:06 | |
-How many have you got? -It's 45.8. | 0:14:06 | 0:14:09 | |
-45.8? -I believe, yes. | 0:14:09 | 0:14:11 | |
-45.8 people? -K. | 0:14:11 | 0:14:13 | |
-K? -Yes. | 0:14:13 | 0:14:15 | |
I've got 223. | 0:14:15 | 0:14:16 | |
-VOICEOVER: -These shows are advertised through social media | 0:14:18 | 0:14:20 | |
and they're hugely popular, but the locations are often kept secret, | 0:14:20 | 0:14:25 | |
for fear of being targeted by extremists. | 0:14:25 | 0:14:28 | |
There are limitations to what they can get away with here, | 0:14:28 | 0:14:31 | |
but they're always finding creative ways around it. | 0:14:31 | 0:14:34 | |
When this society wants to change and the women here want to change, | 0:14:41 | 0:14:44 | |
and the men here want to change, they can take notes from elsewhere, | 0:14:44 | 0:14:49 | |
but that's not in a patronising manner. | 0:14:49 | 0:14:51 | |
It's just like people in the West | 0:14:51 | 0:14:53 | |
are still trying to work out women's rights | 0:14:53 | 0:14:55 | |
and other people's rights. | 0:14:55 | 0:14:57 | |
The inspirational people we've met already | 0:14:57 | 0:14:59 | |
are giving us hints of the future, | 0:14:59 | 0:15:01 | |
of what this country's going to be like in the future, | 0:15:01 | 0:15:03 | |
because they are the people who are going to make this change. | 0:15:03 | 0:15:06 | |
While Adnan delves deeper into the bustling city of Karachi, | 0:15:13 | 0:15:18 | |
I'm still in Adipur, but I'm about to set off on my journey. | 0:15:18 | 0:15:22 | |
It's 6am, very early, | 0:15:28 | 0:15:32 | |
and I have no idea what I'm up to today, | 0:15:32 | 0:15:35 | |
because I met Twinkle last night at the Charlie Chaplin procession | 0:15:35 | 0:15:39 | |
and she's invited me on an adventure and I said yes, | 0:15:39 | 0:15:43 | |
but now I'm thinking, "What on earth have I got myself into?!" | 0:15:43 | 0:15:47 | |
And the only people awake are the cows and me. | 0:15:47 | 0:15:50 | |
No. This isn't for us? | 0:15:54 | 0:15:56 | |
No. | 0:15:58 | 0:16:01 | |
This is slightly strange. | 0:16:01 | 0:16:03 | |
Wow! | 0:16:08 | 0:16:09 | |
It's an all-female bike club! | 0:16:12 | 0:16:15 | |
Yeah! | 0:16:15 | 0:16:18 | |
It's kind of, you know, brotherhood or sisterhood. | 0:16:18 | 0:16:20 | |
Sisterhood. | 0:16:20 | 0:16:22 | |
Why should men have all the fun? | 0:16:22 | 0:16:24 | |
Exactly. | 0:16:24 | 0:16:26 | |
So, so cool. | 0:16:26 | 0:16:28 | |
So awesome. | 0:16:28 | 0:16:29 | |
I mean, I just loved it and as soon as you saw these hot women | 0:16:29 | 0:16:32 | |
take off their helmets, you're like, "Yes!" | 0:16:32 | 0:16:35 | |
This is India. This is India today. I love it. It's amazing. | 0:16:35 | 0:16:38 | |
This is going to be...awesome! | 0:16:43 | 0:16:46 | |
Let's do it. | 0:16:46 | 0:16:48 | |
Ooh! | 0:16:48 | 0:16:49 | |
SHE LAUGHS | 0:16:49 | 0:16:52 | |
I'm going to hitch a ride with Twinkle and her gang | 0:16:58 | 0:17:01 | |
for the next part of my journey. | 0:17:01 | 0:17:03 | |
The plan is to skirt along the border east of Adipur | 0:17:03 | 0:17:06 | |
to the flatlands of the Little Rann of Kutch about 160 miles away. | 0:17:06 | 0:17:11 | |
I think the reason I'm so taken by these bikers | 0:17:15 | 0:17:18 | |
is because they completely go against the stereotype | 0:17:18 | 0:17:21 | |
of oppressed Asian women. | 0:17:21 | 0:17:23 | |
Economically independent, | 0:17:23 | 0:17:24 | |
these women have the freedom to choose this lifestyle. | 0:17:24 | 0:17:27 | |
Ah! | 0:17:29 | 0:17:30 | |
That was amazing. | 0:17:30 | 0:17:32 | |
-Ah, my bum hurts, though. -I'm so glad. | 0:17:32 | 0:17:34 | |
Hey. That was amazing. | 0:17:37 | 0:17:40 | |
-This is your bike? -Yeah. -The dirt track bike? -Yes. | 0:17:42 | 0:17:45 | |
He's my boyfriend. | 0:17:45 | 0:17:47 | |
-He's your actual boyfriend? -Yes. | 0:17:47 | 0:17:49 | |
-You live and breathe the bike? -Yes. | 0:17:49 | 0:17:52 | |
-And how old are you? -22. | 0:17:52 | 0:17:54 | |
-Wow, so you are young! -She's the youngest one of us. | 0:17:54 | 0:17:56 | |
-Oh, you're the youngest? -We're proud of her. | 0:17:56 | 0:17:58 | |
So who's...? So you're the youngest. Who's the oldest? | 0:17:58 | 0:18:01 | |
Pince. | 0:18:01 | 0:18:02 | |
-Pince! -Yeah, what? | 0:18:02 | 0:18:04 | |
Grandma. | 0:18:05 | 0:18:07 | |
-You're a grandma? -I've got a four-year-old grandson. | 0:18:07 | 0:18:11 | |
-Two daughters. -Wow. | 0:18:11 | 0:18:13 | |
-Can I ask you how young you are? -I'm just 60. | 0:18:13 | 0:18:17 | |
VOICEOVER: Pince has been riding a motorbike for 30 years | 0:18:17 | 0:18:20 | |
and has been a trailblazer for her younger friends. | 0:18:20 | 0:18:23 | |
Everybody bird wants to break free. Nobody wants to be caged. | 0:18:23 | 0:18:27 | |
In India, what happens is the woman is taking care of parents, | 0:18:27 | 0:18:31 | |
then she's taking care of the kids. | 0:18:31 | 0:18:33 | |
-Family, yeah. -Family. | 0:18:33 | 0:18:34 | |
And then when the children grow up, she's taking care of the grandkids, | 0:18:34 | 0:18:38 | |
so when does she live her own life? | 0:18:38 | 0:18:41 | |
I'll be riding till the day I die. | 0:18:41 | 0:18:44 | |
I think these women are really something. | 0:18:47 | 0:18:50 | |
But this is a patriarchal society, | 0:18:50 | 0:18:52 | |
and domestic abuse and violent sexual crime here | 0:18:52 | 0:18:55 | |
is amongst the highest in the world, | 0:18:55 | 0:18:58 | |
and these women refuse to be seen as just daughters, wives or mothers. | 0:18:58 | 0:19:03 | |
The fact that these women are doing what they're doing, it surprised me, | 0:19:04 | 0:19:09 | |
it's inspired me | 0:19:09 | 0:19:10 | |
and I think that they are setting a trend for what's going to follow | 0:19:10 | 0:19:13 | |
because the youngest is 22 years old, | 0:19:13 | 0:19:17 | |
the eldest is 60 and, as one of them said, | 0:19:17 | 0:19:21 | |
she wants to start a revolution and why wouldn't you? | 0:19:21 | 0:19:24 | |
I feel like I could take on the world now. | 0:19:27 | 0:19:30 | |
What I'd love to see is women in both India and Pakistan | 0:19:30 | 0:19:34 | |
feeling like these bikers, believing that anything is possible. | 0:19:34 | 0:19:38 | |
It's not only the women of India who are fighting back | 0:19:43 | 0:19:46 | |
against the rampant misogyny of the region. | 0:19:46 | 0:19:49 | |
I'm now on my way to Lyari, | 0:19:51 | 0:19:53 | |
one of the poorer districts of the city, to visit a local club | 0:19:53 | 0:19:57 | |
where they're running a surprising project for women. | 0:19:57 | 0:20:00 | |
This gym was set up a year ago, | 0:20:06 | 0:20:07 | |
with funds from a major Pakistani clothing brand, | 0:20:07 | 0:20:10 | |
to empower girls from this poor community. | 0:20:10 | 0:20:13 | |
Razia was brought up by a single mum. | 0:20:47 | 0:20:49 | |
She's decided to leave her job | 0:20:49 | 0:20:50 | |
and take up a career as a professional boxer. | 0:20:50 | 0:20:53 | |
Scarily, this 19-year-old lass from Lyari | 0:21:03 | 0:21:06 | |
wants to take on this boy from Burnley. | 0:21:06 | 0:21:08 | |
Oh, she's going to kick the crap out of me, isn't she? | 0:21:10 | 0:21:12 | |
-All right, OK. -HE LAUGHS | 0:21:12 | 0:21:14 | |
Ready? Go. | 0:21:14 | 0:21:15 | |
Come on! | 0:21:25 | 0:21:26 | |
Yeah. | 0:21:27 | 0:21:28 | |
The fear does exist. It's existing right here. | 0:21:32 | 0:21:34 | |
No, it doesn't exist. | 0:21:34 | 0:21:36 | |
It's a universal truth that sport is one of the ways of escaping poverty. | 0:21:37 | 0:21:42 | |
And what do you want to do when... when you stop punching me? | 0:21:44 | 0:21:47 | |
HE CHUCKLES | 0:21:52 | 0:21:54 | |
Ah... Have you got any water? | 0:21:59 | 0:22:02 | |
-That's... -Do like this... | 0:22:02 | 0:22:03 | |
Do like this. | 0:22:03 | 0:22:04 | |
THEY BREATH DEEPLY | 0:22:04 | 0:22:06 | |
Yeah. | 0:22:06 | 0:22:07 | |
Thank you. Thank you. | 0:22:07 | 0:22:09 | |
-You're welcome. -It was... It's interesting. | 0:22:09 | 0:22:12 | |
Do you think the government of Pakistan is supporting women | 0:22:12 | 0:22:15 | |
in this kind of thing? | 0:22:15 | 0:22:16 | |
So I guess, in a way, Razia is fighting for change | 0:22:51 | 0:22:53 | |
not just for herself but for her community. | 0:22:53 | 0:22:57 | |
She's part of a minority of African Pakistanis. | 0:22:57 | 0:23:00 | |
Pakistan is constantly surprising me. | 0:23:05 | 0:23:08 | |
Just look at this sign here. | 0:23:08 | 0:23:10 | |
"Bumbasa Road" is not a traditional name for Pakistan. | 0:23:13 | 0:23:17 | |
It's just quite... It's quite fascinating. | 0:23:17 | 0:23:19 | |
It's just like you've got a lot of people here look clearly Pakistani, | 0:23:19 | 0:23:22 | |
what I think Pakistani is, | 0:23:22 | 0:23:23 | |
and then there are kids who look clearly of African descent. | 0:23:23 | 0:23:27 | |
It's just absolutely fascinating | 0:23:27 | 0:23:28 | |
that there's such a cultural mixing pot here. | 0:23:28 | 0:23:31 | |
This street is named after the coastal town of Mombasa in Kenya, | 0:23:31 | 0:23:35 | |
because most of the people who live here arrived from east Africa. | 0:23:35 | 0:23:39 | |
These African Pakistanis have been in the Indian subcontinent | 0:23:39 | 0:23:42 | |
for hundreds of years, | 0:23:42 | 0:23:44 | |
and at partition, as Muslims, many left Indian Gujarat | 0:23:44 | 0:23:47 | |
and joined the established community here in Karachi. | 0:23:47 | 0:23:50 | |
Islam forbids any form of discrimination, | 0:23:50 | 0:23:53 | |
which is why there's no caste system here, | 0:23:53 | 0:23:55 | |
but the fact is these people face racism. | 0:23:55 | 0:23:58 | |
Yaqoob Qambrani is a community leader and activist. | 0:24:15 | 0:24:20 | |
He's fighting for their African heritage | 0:24:20 | 0:24:22 | |
to be recognised as part of Pakistan. | 0:24:22 | 0:24:24 | |
There is no consensus about how these Africans ended up here - | 0:24:53 | 0:24:57 | |
some say they were slaves, | 0:24:57 | 0:24:59 | |
others that they came as traders and stayed - | 0:24:59 | 0:25:04 | |
but this gives us an idea of how long they've been here, | 0:25:04 | 0:25:07 | |
the tomb of Mangho Pir. | 0:25:07 | 0:25:09 | |
This is the final resting place of their most revered saint, | 0:25:12 | 0:25:15 | |
a Sufi who died in the 13th century. | 0:25:15 | 0:25:18 | |
Here they offer prayers of intercession to Allah | 0:25:20 | 0:25:23 | |
through their saint. | 0:25:23 | 0:25:24 | |
But this shrine is not the only reason people flock here. | 0:25:30 | 0:25:33 | |
Oh, wow. | 0:25:34 | 0:25:35 | |
There's, like, 30 crocodiles down there. | 0:25:39 | 0:25:42 | |
There's 200? | 0:25:43 | 0:25:44 | |
-Yes. -200?! | 0:25:44 | 0:25:45 | |
MAN SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE | 0:25:45 | 0:25:47 | |
It seems these Sufi Muslims believe the crocodiles have magic powers. | 0:25:47 | 0:25:52 | |
Legend has it they fell as lice from the saint's shawl, | 0:25:52 | 0:25:55 | |
and when he stamped his feet, they turned into crocodiles, | 0:25:55 | 0:25:58 | |
so he kept them as pets. | 0:25:58 | 0:26:00 | |
For hundreds of years, | 0:26:02 | 0:26:03 | |
devotees have brought sacrificial meat as offerings. | 0:26:03 | 0:26:06 | |
The keeper of the shrine is specially ordained | 0:26:16 | 0:26:19 | |
and only he can feed them. | 0:26:19 | 0:26:20 | |
It's a tradition that's been in his family for generations. | 0:26:23 | 0:26:27 | |
That is unbelievable. | 0:26:27 | 0:26:29 | |
I've never seen a crocodile in real life, | 0:26:29 | 0:26:31 | |
and there's four just lying over there. | 0:26:31 | 0:26:35 | |
SINGING IN OWN LANGUAGE | 0:26:35 | 0:26:37 | |
Over the years, African Pakistanis have integrated... | 0:26:38 | 0:26:42 | |
..married locals, and their vibrant culture | 0:26:44 | 0:26:46 | |
has become part of Pakistani life. | 0:26:46 | 0:26:48 | |
But this performance, sung in both Urdu and Swahili, | 0:26:50 | 0:26:54 | |
shows that, while so much is changing in modern Pakistan, | 0:26:54 | 0:26:57 | |
some traditions are too important to let go. | 0:26:57 | 0:26:59 | |
CHEERING | 0:26:59 | 0:27:01 | |
RHYTHMIC DRUMMING | 0:27:01 | 0:27:03 | |
DRUMMING SPEEDS UP | 0:27:08 | 0:27:10 | |
There's always been a pecking order on both sides of the border. | 0:27:27 | 0:27:31 | |
Here, too, the darker the skin colour, the lower your status, | 0:27:31 | 0:27:35 | |
but India has an even stricter social hierarchy | 0:27:35 | 0:27:38 | |
that keeps people in their place. | 0:27:38 | 0:27:40 | |
The caste system is unique to Hinduism, | 0:27:44 | 0:27:47 | |
and it dictates almost everything in an Indian's life, | 0:27:47 | 0:27:50 | |
from who they can marry to the job they can do. | 0:27:50 | 0:27:54 | |
Although it's illegal to discriminate against people | 0:27:54 | 0:27:57 | |
based on their caste, | 0:27:57 | 0:27:58 | |
it's almost impossible to escape those divisions, | 0:27:58 | 0:28:01 | |
because it's all tied to our names. | 0:28:01 | 0:28:04 | |
What's your surname, Deepika? | 0:28:04 | 0:28:06 | |
Same as yours, Sharma. | 0:28:06 | 0:28:07 | |
-Ah, are you a Sharma? -Yeah. | 0:28:07 | 0:28:09 | |
We're the same! | 0:28:09 | 0:28:11 | |
-High-five. -High-five. -THEY LAUGH | 0:28:11 | 0:28:14 | |
We're of the uppermost caste in Hindus. | 0:28:14 | 0:28:16 | |
-The Brahmin caste? -The Brahmin caste, yeah. | 0:28:16 | 0:28:19 | |
I know that the Brahmin caste, obviously, | 0:28:19 | 0:28:22 | |
is considered a holy caste. | 0:28:22 | 0:28:26 | |
-It's descendants of the priests. -Yeah. | 0:28:26 | 0:28:29 | |
My great-grandfather was a priest. My grandfather was a priest. | 0:28:29 | 0:28:32 | |
My entire village is a priest village. | 0:28:32 | 0:28:35 | |
Like, what the hell is that about? | 0:28:35 | 0:28:36 | |
Is that because they're not allowed to be other castes? | 0:28:36 | 0:28:38 | |
Oh, really? | 0:28:38 | 0:28:39 | |
So, yeah, it's literally the priest family. | 0:28:39 | 0:28:43 | |
We have not got a single priest in our family. | 0:28:43 | 0:28:46 | |
We have corner shops! | 0:28:46 | 0:28:49 | |
So nothing holy about that. | 0:28:49 | 0:28:50 | |
Sharmas rule, though. | 0:28:52 | 0:28:53 | |
We're pretty cool, I think. | 0:28:53 | 0:28:55 | |
I don't know. We're pretty hated as well, so... | 0:28:55 | 0:28:58 | |
Hated by who? | 0:28:58 | 0:28:59 | |
By all of the other castes in the country, obviously. | 0:28:59 | 0:29:02 | |
We're horrible people in that sense, because we have so much power. | 0:29:02 | 0:29:05 | |
No? Don't you think so? | 0:29:05 | 0:29:07 | |
We're the oppressors. | 0:29:08 | 0:29:10 | |
Oh, Deepika... | 0:29:10 | 0:29:12 | |
We are! | 0:29:12 | 0:29:14 | |
OK, now I'm thinking about my family background as the oppressors. | 0:29:14 | 0:29:18 | |
I'm going to break the tradition. I'm going to marry a Muslim boy. | 0:29:18 | 0:29:21 | |
-That's quite a big deal. If they've never had... -It's a very big deal. | 0:29:21 | 0:29:25 | |
It's not like all our families are like, | 0:29:25 | 0:29:26 | |
"Oh, wow! You found this girl!" | 0:29:26 | 0:29:28 | |
Or, "You found this boy!" | 0:29:28 | 0:29:30 | |
They're just like, "Oh, shit." | 0:29:30 | 0:29:31 | |
So it's a big problem. | 0:29:31 | 0:29:33 | |
I've never given a second thought to what caste my family come from. | 0:29:35 | 0:29:40 | |
Being born and brought up in Britain, | 0:29:40 | 0:29:42 | |
it's something I've never had to think about. | 0:29:42 | 0:29:44 | |
After travelling north, I've arrived at the Little Rann of Kutch, | 0:29:47 | 0:29:51 | |
70 miles from the border. | 0:29:51 | 0:29:52 | |
HORSE SNORTS | 0:30:00 | 0:30:02 | |
Gosh, we really are in the middle of nowhere. | 0:30:08 | 0:30:10 | |
It's an incredibly hostile environment, | 0:30:12 | 0:30:15 | |
but somehow people manage to carve out a living here. | 0:30:15 | 0:30:18 | |
This landscape is really harsh, | 0:30:21 | 0:30:24 | |
but, on the odd occasion, you see this, | 0:30:24 | 0:30:26 | |
which are these huge mountains of pure white. | 0:30:26 | 0:30:30 | |
Thousands of farmers make a living from this landscape, | 0:30:35 | 0:30:39 | |
and what they farm is salt. | 0:30:39 | 0:30:41 | |
This is part of one of the largest salt deserts in the world. | 0:30:46 | 0:30:50 | |
The region contributes 20% of the nation's most-used seasoning. | 0:30:50 | 0:30:55 | |
It's like we're walking on, like, a slush. | 0:30:57 | 0:31:00 | |
-Can I touch it? -Yeah, yeah, yeah. | 0:31:02 | 0:31:04 | |
Oh, wow. | 0:31:06 | 0:31:07 | |
Wow. | 0:31:10 | 0:31:12 | |
LAUGHING: Sorry... | 0:31:12 | 0:31:13 | |
That is so strong! | 0:31:13 | 0:31:15 | |
That's definitely salt. | 0:31:15 | 0:31:17 | |
That's not snow - that's salt. | 0:31:17 | 0:31:19 | |
Wow. | 0:31:19 | 0:31:21 | |
Yeah, yeah. | 0:31:22 | 0:31:23 | |
SHE RETCHES | 0:31:23 | 0:31:25 | |
Yeah, that's really... That's really salty. | 0:31:26 | 0:31:29 | |
Oh, my gosh. | 0:31:29 | 0:31:31 | |
There's 100,000 people working on the salt farms. | 0:31:35 | 0:31:38 | |
The majority are known locally as Agariyas, | 0:31:38 | 0:31:41 | |
part of the low-caste Kolis. | 0:31:41 | 0:31:43 | |
They've been doing this job for centuries, and the cost is high - | 0:31:45 | 0:31:49 | |
they risk blindness, skin lesions and tuberculosis | 0:31:49 | 0:31:52 | |
as they each move up to 17 tonnes of salt a day | 0:31:52 | 0:31:56 | |
into piles ready for collection. | 0:31:56 | 0:31:58 | |
Devjee's saying that you have to put this on to balance it on your head, | 0:32:00 | 0:32:03 | |
but, for me, I think the biggest thing | 0:32:03 | 0:32:05 | |
-is just trying to lift it off the ground! -Yeah. | 0:32:05 | 0:32:07 | |
-Can you take a little bit out of it? -Yeah, yeah. | 0:32:07 | 0:32:10 | |
Oh, my God. OK. | 0:32:10 | 0:32:12 | |
STRAINING: Oh, my God... | 0:32:12 | 0:32:13 | |
THEY LAUGH | 0:32:14 | 0:32:16 | |
OK, that didn't go... That didn't go so well. | 0:32:16 | 0:32:18 | |
Let's see if I can... OK. MAN SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE | 0:32:18 | 0:32:21 | |
Oh, my God. | 0:32:21 | 0:32:24 | |
I... I mean, I'm laughing, but this is seriously backbreaking work. | 0:32:26 | 0:32:30 | |
Usually each pan would weigh 20kg, | 0:32:30 | 0:32:33 | |
but I'm struggling with just half of that. | 0:32:33 | 0:32:37 | |
SHE LAUGHS | 0:32:37 | 0:32:38 | |
MAN LAUGHS | 0:32:46 | 0:32:48 | |
They're starting work early to avoid the heat and glare | 0:32:57 | 0:33:00 | |
of the afternoon sun. | 0:33:00 | 0:33:02 | |
It's fierce. | 0:33:02 | 0:33:04 | |
Temperatures here can hit 45 degrees. | 0:33:04 | 0:33:07 | |
For all of this backbreaking work, | 0:33:08 | 0:33:10 | |
they'll earn just over £2 per tonne, | 0:33:10 | 0:33:13 | |
and, of course, it's the age-old story - | 0:33:13 | 0:33:16 | |
once it's processed and sent across India, | 0:33:16 | 0:33:18 | |
this salt will fetch ten times more. | 0:33:18 | 0:33:21 | |
It's a seasonal industry, | 0:33:24 | 0:33:26 | |
and so, for seven months of the year, | 0:33:26 | 0:33:29 | |
Mr Chuturbhai and his family live here. | 0:33:29 | 0:33:31 | |
One of Mr Chuturbhai's many tasks on the farm is to rake the salt | 0:33:37 | 0:33:41 | |
to ensure the water is evenly evaporated. | 0:33:41 | 0:33:44 | |
It's so sharp. | 0:33:49 | 0:33:50 | |
This salt, it's almost like glass on the soles of your feet. | 0:33:50 | 0:33:54 | |
Oh! | 0:34:00 | 0:34:01 | |
SHE GRUNTS | 0:34:05 | 0:34:07 | |
It looks so beautiful, | 0:34:14 | 0:34:16 | |
but the reality is that it hurts a lot. | 0:34:16 | 0:34:19 | |
-Yeah. -That's just after a few minutes. | 0:34:19 | 0:34:21 | |
Can you see how red it's gone? | 0:34:21 | 0:34:23 | |
CHILD BABBLES HAPPILY | 0:34:23 | 0:34:26 | |
I mean, I don't know how you do that every single day. | 0:34:26 | 0:34:29 | |
Yeah. | 0:34:41 | 0:34:43 | |
CHILD SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE | 0:34:43 | 0:34:45 | |
"The job has to be done," he said, because if he doesn't do it, | 0:34:52 | 0:34:55 | |
then the kids aren't going to get fed. | 0:34:55 | 0:34:58 | |
That's the reality. | 0:34:58 | 0:35:00 | |
I find it pretty shocking that in the country with the fourth-largest | 0:35:07 | 0:35:11 | |
number of billionaires in the world, | 0:35:11 | 0:35:13 | |
there are people here like Mr Chuturbhai and his family | 0:35:13 | 0:35:17 | |
who are bound by their caste to this life of hardship | 0:35:17 | 0:35:20 | |
with little chance of escape. | 0:35:20 | 0:35:23 | |
The grandfather did it, the father did it, the son does it. | 0:35:23 | 0:35:26 | |
The girls will also do the same work, | 0:35:26 | 0:35:29 | |
because every six months they have to come here into the desert | 0:35:29 | 0:35:32 | |
with their mum and dad, | 0:35:32 | 0:35:35 | |
and that means that they don't go to school. | 0:35:35 | 0:35:36 | |
Because they don't go to school, this is what they'll be born into. | 0:35:36 | 0:35:40 | |
It's a never-ending cycle. | 0:35:42 | 0:35:44 | |
There's no other choice. | 0:35:46 | 0:35:47 | |
This is one part of the border where change is nowhere in sight. | 0:35:49 | 0:35:54 | |
I've barely scratched the surface of Karachi, | 0:36:06 | 0:36:09 | |
but for me and my local producer, Khalid, | 0:36:09 | 0:36:11 | |
there's a long journey ahead. | 0:36:11 | 0:36:13 | |
Next stop, the Thar Desert. | 0:36:15 | 0:36:18 | |
-I think I've got, like, so much to tell to your mum. -About what? | 0:36:18 | 0:36:21 | |
-About what? What? There's nothing to know. -About everything. | 0:36:21 | 0:36:24 | |
What's the... What's the hidden secrets of Adnan? | 0:36:24 | 0:36:27 | |
Outside the city limits, Sindh province is mostly barren. | 0:36:31 | 0:36:34 | |
There's no reason to stop here. | 0:36:34 | 0:36:37 | |
-Khalid, I've got something very important to ask you. -What's that? | 0:36:37 | 0:36:41 | |
Where the hell are we? | 0:36:41 | 0:36:42 | |
-Have you got a map with you? -Yeah, yeah, yeah. | 0:36:42 | 0:36:44 | |
-Mate, I was in the Army, mate. Come on. -OK. | 0:36:44 | 0:36:47 | |
Right, OK, so this is Karachi. | 0:36:47 | 0:36:49 | |
-We've just left Karachi. -Yeah. -Where's the Indian border? | 0:36:49 | 0:36:51 | |
-This is the... -This green line is... -This is the Indian border here? | 0:36:51 | 0:36:54 | |
That's the international border. We are about 30km east of Umerkot. | 0:36:54 | 0:36:59 | |
-Wow. We're about 45 miles from the Indian border. -Yeah. | 0:36:59 | 0:37:03 | |
I mean, we'd do that in less than an hour, wouldn't we? | 0:37:03 | 0:37:06 | |
-We'd just be there. -Yeah, we can, but we can't. | 0:37:06 | 0:37:08 | |
So, like, it's... You can say it's a hostile border. | 0:37:08 | 0:37:11 | |
It's not a friendly border at all. | 0:37:11 | 0:37:13 | |
It's weird, cos Babita is just over there, about, I don't know, | 0:37:13 | 0:37:17 | |
a couple of hours over there, three hours or whatever she is, you know? | 0:37:17 | 0:37:20 | |
It's crazy, isn't it? Are we going to keep going that way? | 0:37:20 | 0:37:23 | |
Are we going to keep trying to get...? | 0:37:23 | 0:37:24 | |
Let's try that, with how far we can go and... | 0:37:24 | 0:37:26 | |
Let's go and see the border. | 0:37:26 | 0:37:27 | |
-Get as close to it as possible. -OK. Cool. | 0:37:27 | 0:37:29 | |
So we're going to divert to Zero Point, | 0:37:31 | 0:37:33 | |
one of the crossing points on the border. | 0:37:33 | 0:37:35 | |
I mean, oh, yeah, you will need travel documents here now. | 0:37:38 | 0:37:41 | |
There's only three places on the entire border | 0:37:41 | 0:37:44 | |
between India and Pakistan where you can cross. | 0:37:44 | 0:37:46 | |
This is going to be one of my only chances | 0:37:49 | 0:37:51 | |
to stand on the border or even get close to it. | 0:37:51 | 0:37:54 | |
THEY SPEAK ANOTHER LANGUAGE | 0:37:56 | 0:37:58 | |
Security's getting tighter as we get closer. | 0:37:58 | 0:38:01 | |
-Hello, Captain. -ADNAN SPEAKS ANOTHER LANGUAGE | 0:38:05 | 0:38:07 | |
I'm told it's much to do with the fear of local terrorists | 0:38:07 | 0:38:10 | |
as cross-border attacks by Indian forces. | 0:38:10 | 0:38:12 | |
SIREN WAILS | 0:38:18 | 0:38:20 | |
The police are taking us up to the next checkpoint. | 0:38:22 | 0:38:25 | |
That's about as big a ticket as you need, you know. We don't... | 0:38:25 | 0:38:28 | |
We don't need a visa. | 0:38:28 | 0:38:29 | |
We can just roll in with these guys and then just see what happens. | 0:38:29 | 0:38:32 | |
Let's try and get there. | 0:38:32 | 0:38:33 | |
So we're going to try and carry on. | 0:38:36 | 0:38:39 | |
At the moment, we have got the permission to go as close as... | 0:38:39 | 0:38:42 | |
-..five miles short of the Indian border... -Yeah. | 0:38:43 | 0:38:47 | |
..and if we are lucky, and if the permission comes through, | 0:38:47 | 0:38:50 | |
we might be able to transit. | 0:38:50 | 0:38:52 | |
Ha. | 0:38:52 | 0:38:53 | |
Khalid is doing his best to get us permission to keep on going. | 0:38:55 | 0:39:00 | |
Less than ten miles from the border, he's just playing music, you know. | 0:39:00 | 0:39:03 | |
It's brilliant. | 0:39:03 | 0:39:05 | |
It's quiet and peaceful here. | 0:39:07 | 0:39:09 | |
It doesn't feel dangerous, | 0:39:09 | 0:39:10 | |
but, in 2016 alone, 28 civilians and soldiers were killed | 0:39:10 | 0:39:15 | |
in border attacks between these two countries. | 0:39:15 | 0:39:18 | |
Some fear one serious incident could trigger an all-out war | 0:39:18 | 0:39:22 | |
between south Asia's rival states. | 0:39:22 | 0:39:25 | |
We are getting closer to Khokhrapar, the last town before the border. | 0:39:30 | 0:39:35 | |
Twice a week, a train runs between the two countries, | 0:39:35 | 0:39:38 | |
but only Indians and Pakistanis can use those trains, | 0:39:38 | 0:39:41 | |
and they need visas which can take months to get. | 0:39:41 | 0:39:44 | |
So we are inching on and on and on towards India. | 0:39:44 | 0:39:47 | |
A foreigner like me has got zero chance of getting past Zero Point... | 0:39:50 | 0:39:53 | |
..but I'm really keen to see the actual border up close for myself. | 0:39:56 | 0:39:59 | |
So we're about to enter Khokhrapar, | 0:40:02 | 0:40:05 | |
so it means that we're about 7km to 9km inside... | 0:40:05 | 0:40:08 | |
close to Indian border. | 0:40:08 | 0:40:09 | |
Five miles to India. | 0:40:09 | 0:40:11 | |
-Are we going to try and get on the train? -We are not allowed to. | 0:40:13 | 0:40:16 | |
I just... I want to see it. I want to see India. Why can't I see India? | 0:40:16 | 0:40:19 | |
Well, it's... It's not, sort of, that sort of border that... | 0:40:19 | 0:40:22 | |
where you can go for sightseeing. | 0:40:22 | 0:40:24 | |
Do you think we'll spend time in an Indian prison? | 0:40:24 | 0:40:27 | |
Not in an Indian prison but in a Pakistani prison. | 0:40:27 | 0:40:29 | |
Yeah, the Pakistani nick. All right, nice one. | 0:40:29 | 0:40:32 | |
This is the last security post. | 0:40:32 | 0:40:34 | |
Oh! Rangers, Rangers, Rangers... | 0:40:34 | 0:40:36 | |
It's controlled by the Pakistani Rangers, | 0:40:36 | 0:40:39 | |
and we've been ordered to stop filming. | 0:40:39 | 0:40:41 | |
What's that? | 0:40:41 | 0:40:43 | |
Disappointing. | 0:40:43 | 0:40:44 | |
I hope to see the border on my journey, | 0:40:50 | 0:40:53 | |
but, miles from anywhere, there's no chance of a hotel here. | 0:40:53 | 0:40:56 | |
Morning. | 0:40:56 | 0:40:57 | |
Good sleep? | 0:41:00 | 0:41:01 | |
Oh, really good sleep. | 0:41:02 | 0:41:05 | |
It was beautiful because you could lie here and look at the stars, | 0:41:07 | 0:41:13 | |
but I'm sad today because we're actually leaving Gujarat. | 0:41:13 | 0:41:17 | |
But we've got to move on. | 0:41:17 | 0:41:18 | |
It's about, what, 100 miles from the India-Pakistan border? | 0:41:20 | 0:41:23 | |
-100, 120 miles. -Wow. | 0:41:23 | 0:41:26 | |
So we are so close to the border where we are now, | 0:41:26 | 0:41:29 | |
and the landscape is completely changing yet again. | 0:41:29 | 0:41:33 | |
We're hugging the border and travelling 400 miles north | 0:41:33 | 0:41:36 | |
through Rajasthan and the Thar Desert, | 0:41:36 | 0:41:39 | |
just across the border from where Adnan is. | 0:41:39 | 0:41:42 | |
Unable to get to Zero Point, | 0:41:44 | 0:41:46 | |
I've moved over 100 miles north into the Thar Desert | 0:41:46 | 0:41:49 | |
that straddles the border between Pakistan and India. | 0:41:49 | 0:41:52 | |
In a remote part of this strange landscape, | 0:41:54 | 0:41:57 | |
I'm meeting the Bhil tribe, who have lived here for hundreds of years. | 0:41:57 | 0:42:01 | |
They're Hindus and, while many left at the time of partition, | 0:42:04 | 0:42:07 | |
around 450,000 of them are still here. | 0:42:07 | 0:42:10 | |
What I find fascinating is the reason why they stayed. | 0:42:15 | 0:42:19 | |
The fact is, these Hindus feel they face less discrimination here, | 0:42:19 | 0:42:23 | |
because in India they're amongst the lowest caste. | 0:42:23 | 0:42:27 | |
It's like a different world. | 0:42:27 | 0:42:28 | |
It's a completely different world, but it's still... | 0:42:28 | 0:42:31 | |
It's Pakistan, you know? | 0:42:31 | 0:42:32 | |
There's so many Pakistans and this is one of them. | 0:42:32 | 0:42:35 | |
It may look idyllic, but life here is a struggle. | 0:42:35 | 0:42:39 | |
They get very little support or attention from anyone. | 0:42:39 | 0:42:43 | |
-Sit close to it. -Yeah, and then pull like that. | 0:42:43 | 0:42:47 | |
Ah, OK, OK, OK. | 0:42:47 | 0:42:48 | |
This has meant that they've continued to live much the same way | 0:42:50 | 0:42:53 | |
as they did before partition, | 0:42:53 | 0:42:55 | |
side-by-side with Muslims from the region. | 0:42:55 | 0:42:58 | |
They live and work together, and even intermarry. | 0:42:58 | 0:43:03 | |
I'm quite proud of that, actually. There's quite a lot there, I think. | 0:43:03 | 0:43:06 | |
Is that enough? | 0:43:08 | 0:43:10 | |
I thought I'd done all right. | 0:43:16 | 0:43:17 | |
He's got loads. Where has he got that from? | 0:43:19 | 0:43:21 | |
-He got it - one goat. -One goat? | 0:43:21 | 0:43:23 | |
-Yeah. -Right, nice one. | 0:43:23 | 0:43:26 | |
Hasu is the matriarch of this family and lives with her son, Ganji, | 0:43:28 | 0:43:32 | |
his wife and their eight children. | 0:43:32 | 0:43:34 | |
-Ram-ram. -Ram-ram. | 0:43:34 | 0:43:35 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:43:35 | 0:43:37 | |
Ram-ram, Babu. | 0:43:37 | 0:43:38 | |
How old is Babu? | 0:43:38 | 0:43:40 | |
THEY SPEAK ANOTHER LANGUAGE | 0:43:40 | 0:43:43 | |
Three. Three years. | 0:43:43 | 0:43:44 | |
-He's three years old? -Yes. -Yeah, yeah, yeah. | 0:43:44 | 0:43:46 | |
-So he'll be five when he can touch his ears. -Uh-huh. -Yeah. | 0:43:46 | 0:43:49 | |
Babu, how old am I? | 0:43:49 | 0:43:50 | |
THEY LAUGH | 0:43:52 | 0:43:53 | |
ADNAN EXHALES, THEY LAUGH | 0:43:55 | 0:43:57 | |
This is five, then this... | 0:43:57 | 0:44:00 | |
-Six. Seven. -Six. Seven. | 0:44:00 | 0:44:02 | |
Bhil children are formally promised in marriage at a young age, | 0:44:02 | 0:44:06 | |
but the wedding doesn't happen until the girl reaches puberty. | 0:44:06 | 0:44:10 | |
Women showed their marital status by the number of bangles on their arms. | 0:44:10 | 0:44:14 | |
A full arm means a wife, a bare arm, a widow, | 0:44:16 | 0:44:19 | |
and half an arm for a respected elder. | 0:44:19 | 0:44:22 | |
I've been invited by Ganji's mother into the women's hut. | 0:44:23 | 0:44:26 | |
This is a rare privilege for a nonfamily bloke. | 0:44:26 | 0:44:29 | |
Traditionally, Bhil women aren't allowed to mix with men. | 0:44:30 | 0:44:33 | |
They even eat separately from their husbands. | 0:44:33 | 0:44:36 | |
Hasu, er... | 0:44:36 | 0:44:37 | |
HE SPEAKS THEIR LANGUAGE | 0:44:37 | 0:44:40 | |
Has your marriage been successful? | 0:44:40 | 0:44:42 | |
My...my mum's been trying to get me married for a long time, | 0:44:55 | 0:44:58 | |
and I'm going to be 39 this year, | 0:44:58 | 0:45:00 | |
and I just need some advice about getting married. | 0:45:00 | 0:45:04 | |
Am I respectable in my area? | 0:45:18 | 0:45:21 | |
I'm big in Burnley. | 0:45:21 | 0:45:22 | |
BHIL MUSIC PLAYS | 0:46:04 | 0:46:07 | |
Maybe my luck's in. | 0:46:23 | 0:46:25 | |
My mum will be so pleased. | 0:46:25 | 0:46:27 | |
I may just have found that special someone. | 0:46:27 | 0:46:30 | |
I'm also heading to the Thar Desert, but on the Indian side. | 0:46:35 | 0:46:40 | |
We can't meet up because of the fence that's in place | 0:46:40 | 0:46:43 | |
due to the fear and suspicion the two countries' governments | 0:46:43 | 0:46:46 | |
have of each other. | 0:46:46 | 0:46:48 | |
The only way to travel on from here is on the back of a camel. | 0:46:52 | 0:46:55 | |
-Namaste. -Namaste. | 0:46:57 | 0:46:58 | |
Moti Singh has lived here for over 20 years, | 0:46:58 | 0:47:02 | |
and he's going to be my guide. | 0:47:02 | 0:47:04 | |
That's Babloo and that's... | 0:47:04 | 0:47:05 | |
CAMEL GROANS | 0:47:05 | 0:47:07 | |
I think I should go for Babloo, not Pintu. | 0:47:10 | 0:47:12 | |
Pintu doesn't sound too happy. | 0:47:12 | 0:47:13 | |
Yeah, Pintu is a little unhappy with the morning. | 0:47:13 | 0:47:17 | |
Sounds like me. | 0:47:17 | 0:47:19 | |
Yeah, and that's the front. Yeah, that's it. | 0:47:19 | 0:47:22 | |
-OK. -All up. | 0:47:22 | 0:47:24 | |
-OK. -That's pretty high up. | 0:47:24 | 0:47:27 | |
-That is pretty high up. -Yeah. | 0:47:27 | 0:47:29 | |
Please don't run away, Babloo. | 0:47:29 | 0:47:32 | |
At 120,000 square miles, | 0:47:36 | 0:47:39 | |
the Thar Desert spans four Indian and two Pakistani states. | 0:47:39 | 0:47:44 | |
This is so beautiful. | 0:47:45 | 0:47:49 | |
And even here, the border is a reality. | 0:47:50 | 0:47:53 | |
And so here we can see, you said, the Pakistan border... | 0:47:55 | 0:47:59 | |
-Yes. Yes. -..from this side. | 0:47:59 | 0:48:00 | |
Well, there's a whole lot of border security and the army now. | 0:48:00 | 0:48:04 | |
There has been a tension for almost now 10, 15, 20 years. | 0:48:04 | 0:48:08 | |
It's really hard to think about that tension | 0:48:08 | 0:48:10 | |
-when it's so calm and peaceful here. -Yes. Yeah, yeah. | 0:48:10 | 0:48:13 | |
-Is it a different atmosphere there? -No, it's the same. | 0:48:13 | 0:48:16 | |
Same desert landscape, same people, same language... | 0:48:16 | 0:48:19 | |
When there is no war, it's the same. | 0:48:19 | 0:48:21 | |
Everybody just doing their work in all the villages, | 0:48:21 | 0:48:23 | |
just going around doing their bit. | 0:48:23 | 0:48:25 | |
The only thing that separates India and Pakistan in this region... | 0:48:25 | 0:48:30 | |
..is the fence. | 0:48:30 | 0:48:32 | |
Since the British left 70 years ago, | 0:48:32 | 0:48:34 | |
the Thar border has seen many skirmishes and military stand-offs. | 0:48:34 | 0:48:38 | |
Fearing Pakistani infiltration, | 0:48:41 | 0:48:43 | |
in the 1990s, the Indians put a fence on the border. | 0:48:43 | 0:48:47 | |
It must have destroyed lives. | 0:48:48 | 0:48:51 | |
It did. That's what happens when you have a partition | 0:48:51 | 0:48:54 | |
and we have two different nations, | 0:48:54 | 0:48:55 | |
and these are things which will happen. | 0:48:55 | 0:48:57 | |
I mean, the first statement of Churchill, I think, | 0:48:57 | 0:48:59 | |
after when India got independent in 1947, | 0:48:59 | 0:49:02 | |
the first statement of Churchill was | 0:49:02 | 0:49:03 | |
that this country's not going to survive, | 0:49:03 | 0:49:05 | |
because there's nothing which unifies this country. | 0:49:05 | 0:49:07 | |
-Which, India? -Yeah. | 0:49:07 | 0:49:09 | |
You've got Hindus, you've got Muslims, | 0:49:09 | 0:49:11 | |
you've got Christians, you've got Sikhs... | 0:49:11 | 0:49:12 | |
You've got everybody here. | 0:49:12 | 0:49:14 | |
But the partition could have been avoided. | 0:49:14 | 0:49:16 | |
A normal common man does not get affected, | 0:49:16 | 0:49:19 | |
but then, when the security of the nation comes in, | 0:49:19 | 0:49:22 | |
when there is the element of...the matter of Kashmir, | 0:49:22 | 0:49:24 | |
then everybody wants to... | 0:49:24 | 0:49:26 | |
wants his country to... | 0:49:26 | 0:49:28 | |
I mean, nationalism is there in every Indian. | 0:49:28 | 0:49:32 | |
Moti's pride in his identity has | 0:49:33 | 0:49:36 | |
made me question my own country's part in creating the border. | 0:49:36 | 0:49:40 | |
Knowing that Britain was the orchestrator, I suppose, | 0:49:40 | 0:49:44 | |
the mastermind of what happened between these two countries... | 0:49:44 | 0:49:47 | |
-Yes, yes. -..and I am a product of that... | 0:49:47 | 0:49:50 | |
-Yes, yes. -..I'm still trying to settle it in my head. | 0:49:50 | 0:49:52 | |
I've met a lot of British who come here, | 0:49:52 | 0:49:54 | |
they ask me the same question, | 0:49:54 | 0:49:55 | |
"Do you feel that we were responsible for this?" | 0:49:55 | 0:49:57 | |
I said, "Yes." You... | 0:49:57 | 0:49:59 | |
When you were ruling in this place, and if you left... | 0:49:59 | 0:50:01 | |
If you leave a country which is divided, | 0:50:01 | 0:50:04 | |
the ruler has to take the onus on. | 0:50:04 | 0:50:06 | |
You cannot say that "We were not responsible." You were. | 0:50:06 | 0:50:10 | |
Do you think you will ever see a day where there will be no fence, | 0:50:10 | 0:50:12 | |
no security forces, no army patrolling the region? | 0:50:12 | 0:50:16 | |
I don't see it. | 0:50:16 | 0:50:17 | |
They are both countries which have moved into different directions. | 0:50:17 | 0:50:20 | |
-The fence will never come down? -Yeah, it'll never come down. | 0:50:20 | 0:50:23 | |
There are dangers on both sides of the fence, | 0:50:37 | 0:50:40 | |
but, for the Bhils, the biggest threat is water - | 0:50:40 | 0:50:43 | |
or a lack of it. | 0:50:43 | 0:50:45 | |
The elders are using traditional methods to predict the rains. | 0:50:49 | 0:50:52 | |
It's not an exact science, but it's what they've always done, | 0:50:52 | 0:50:56 | |
and it's all they've got to rely on. | 0:50:56 | 0:50:58 | |
The circle in the middle is to predict how much crops | 0:51:18 | 0:51:21 | |
they will get, depending on which month the rains will come, | 0:51:21 | 0:51:25 | |
and I think the first month's winning at the moment, | 0:51:25 | 0:51:27 | |
so it looks like the first month's going to rain, | 0:51:27 | 0:51:29 | |
because it's just leaking out. | 0:51:29 | 0:51:31 | |
HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE | 0:51:35 | 0:51:37 | |
BELLS CHIME | 0:51:37 | 0:51:39 | |
They are desperate to stay on their ancestral land, | 0:52:29 | 0:52:32 | |
but climate change and scarcity of water | 0:52:32 | 0:52:35 | |
is threatening their way of life. | 0:52:35 | 0:52:37 | |
It's really sad. | 0:52:38 | 0:52:40 | |
I think Pakistan would just be a lesser place | 0:52:40 | 0:52:42 | |
if this unique culture died out. | 0:52:42 | 0:52:45 | |
Like the Hindu Bhils in Pakistan, this Muslim shepherd | 0:52:50 | 0:52:53 | |
has found himself on the wrong side of the border. | 0:52:53 | 0:52:56 | |
Ghafoor is one of the 200 million Muslims who've carried on | 0:52:58 | 0:53:01 | |
living in India just as they've done for centuries. | 0:53:01 | 0:53:04 | |
200. | 0:53:09 | 0:53:11 | |
Wow. | 0:53:11 | 0:53:12 | |
For generations, his family have been shepherds. | 0:53:12 | 0:53:16 | |
This is a whole family business. Everyone's involved. | 0:53:16 | 0:53:19 | |
Until partition, their flock grazed freely without borders. | 0:53:21 | 0:53:25 | |
Now the family is split in two. | 0:53:26 | 0:53:28 | |
SHEEP BLEAT | 0:53:28 | 0:53:30 | |
His mother is from Pakistan. | 0:53:35 | 0:53:37 | |
But his father told him that, "There are two countries now, | 0:53:41 | 0:53:45 | |
"and the country where your mother is from, | 0:53:45 | 0:53:47 | |
"now that's a different country, | 0:53:47 | 0:53:49 | |
"and neither can you go there, nor can your mother go there." | 0:53:49 | 0:53:52 | |
He's not even been there even once. | 0:53:52 | 0:53:54 | |
He doesn't consider himself Pakistani whatsoever. | 0:54:02 | 0:54:05 | |
You are 100% Indian. | 0:54:05 | 0:54:07 | |
Proud Indian! | 0:54:07 | 0:54:09 | |
Proud Indian. | 0:54:09 | 0:54:11 | |
Like him! He's saying, "We are the same." | 0:54:11 | 0:54:14 | |
We are the same. | 0:54:14 | 0:54:15 | |
-He's so happy. -Yeah. | 0:54:15 | 0:54:17 | |
I would hope that I have the same positivity for life as he does. | 0:54:17 | 0:54:22 | |
He says... | 0:54:30 | 0:54:31 | |
SHE SPEAKS HIS LANGUAGE | 0:54:34 | 0:54:37 | |
Thank you. | 0:54:37 | 0:54:38 | |
Sorry for keeping you from the sheep. | 0:54:40 | 0:54:42 | |
Yes, well, I got to meet you, too. | 0:54:47 | 0:54:50 | |
That's so nice. Thank you. That's made me feel emotional. | 0:54:54 | 0:54:57 | |
-This is a very interesting place. Very interesting. -Thank you. | 0:54:57 | 0:55:00 | |
It's really nice to meet you too. | 0:55:00 | 0:55:03 | |
-Can I hug you? -Yeah. -Yeah. | 0:55:03 | 0:55:05 | |
-Thank you. Thank you. -Thank you. | 0:55:05 | 0:55:07 | |
Talking to him, Ghafoor, was amazing, because he... | 0:55:15 | 0:55:19 | |
He just said towards the end, | 0:55:19 | 0:55:22 | |
"Your grandfather was from Pakistan and your dad was from Pakistan, | 0:55:22 | 0:55:25 | |
"and it was fate that you would go to England and then finally | 0:55:25 | 0:55:29 | |
"do the whole circle and come back here." | 0:55:29 | 0:55:31 | |
And it's the first time I've felt this way that | 0:55:31 | 0:55:35 | |
it is like a full-circle journey. | 0:55:35 | 0:55:37 | |
There's me from Reading in Berkshire, | 0:55:37 | 0:55:39 | |
coming here into this desert in Rajasthan, | 0:55:39 | 0:55:44 | |
and meeting a man like that, | 0:55:44 | 0:55:45 | |
who is just a few years younger than my dad. | 0:55:45 | 0:55:48 | |
They were both born at the time of partition, and... | 0:55:48 | 0:55:50 | |
yet he is saying to me that, | 0:55:50 | 0:55:52 | |
"We're welcoming you here with open arms, and we are the same." | 0:55:52 | 0:55:56 | |
Which is really lovely. | 0:55:59 | 0:56:00 | |
Just like the Bhils in Pakistan, | 0:56:02 | 0:56:05 | |
Ghafoor believes this is his ancestral homeland. | 0:56:05 | 0:56:09 | |
And for both, land is central to their identity. | 0:56:09 | 0:56:14 | |
Neither of them have a reason to leave it, | 0:56:14 | 0:56:16 | |
just because 70 years ago a border was drawn through their country. | 0:56:16 | 0:56:19 | |
Pakistan is so diverse. | 0:56:22 | 0:56:25 | |
These beautiful, beautiful, cool people who are just teaching me more | 0:56:25 | 0:56:29 | |
about what it is to be human and how to just get on when things are hard. | 0:56:29 | 0:56:33 | |
Look at him. | 0:56:38 | 0:56:39 | |
That's Ganji, whose family I stayed with last night. | 0:56:43 | 0:56:46 | |
Ganji's family have shown me love, | 0:56:46 | 0:56:49 | |
and I keep thinking about when I grew up and we used to have | 0:56:49 | 0:56:53 | |
this division between Hindus and Muslims, or Indians and Pakistanis. | 0:56:53 | 0:56:57 | |
I'm not supposed to get on with him, but last night we were sharing | 0:57:00 | 0:57:03 | |
food and chai and chaat and music and everything, and it was just... | 0:57:03 | 0:57:06 | |
It was everything. | 0:57:08 | 0:57:10 | |
I'd stay here, you know? I'd just stay here for a bit. | 0:57:12 | 0:57:14 | |
But the journey's not over - | 0:57:16 | 0:57:17 | |
I'm going to go over to the Punjab now, which is my home, | 0:57:17 | 0:57:19 | |
with a different view of...of who I am. | 0:57:19 | 0:57:22 | |
Pakistani. | 0:57:24 | 0:57:25 | |
Next time... | 0:57:35 | 0:57:37 | |
-HORN HONKS -Welcome to the Punjab. | 0:57:37 | 0:57:39 | |
..we both enter the mighty Punjab. | 0:57:39 | 0:57:41 | |
I'm coming home! | 0:57:44 | 0:57:46 | |
From this spectacular modern solar farm... | 0:57:46 | 0:57:49 | |
I've never been on a Pakistani train before. | 0:57:49 | 0:57:52 | |
..we head to the Sufis in Lahore... | 0:57:54 | 0:57:56 | |
..and meet my mum in my family home of Kharian. | 0:57:58 | 0:58:01 | |
I travel from the futuristic state capital of Chandigarh... | 0:58:03 | 0:58:07 | |
In my head, Punjab has always been about farms and haystacks. | 0:58:07 | 0:58:12 | |
..meet women in the grip of addiction... | 0:58:12 | 0:58:14 | |
I was addicted to weed, hash and brown sugar. | 0:58:14 | 0:58:18 | |
..ending on the Pakistan border. | 0:58:19 | 0:58:22 | |
My first glimpse of Pakistan from the India border, | 0:58:22 | 0:58:26 | |
but I don't think this is a place that either of us have been. | 0:58:26 | 0:58:29 | |
Would you like to find out more about why India was partitioned | 0:58:33 | 0:58:36 | |
and Pakistan created? | 0:58:36 | 0:58:37 | |
Delve deeper into the history and psychology | 0:58:37 | 0:58:39 | |
with our academic experts at... | 0:58:39 | 0:58:41 | |
..and follow the links to the Open University. | 0:58:46 | 0:58:48 |