My New Friend

Today i made a new friend. His name is Ali and he is from Pakistan. Hyderabad city :). I ran across him a few times on the hostel floor and thought he looked familiar. I mean seriously, how many of us can tell an Indian and Pakistani apart? But so similar to us Indians, that took me a little by surprise! A real warm hearted person. Kinda missed that genuine affection that is part of our culture in France. I mean there are several advantages of being in the developed world but I guess deep down, there is still that matter of culture that has programmed our brains a little differently and leaves us appreciating human emotions a lot better. He invited my friends and me to his room and made us some delicious tea, the kind of tea that we get in back at Babloo's outside IIFT's back gate. He also invited us to play cricket with his friends tomorrow at a nearby ground. Now that is something that I hadn't imagined doing in France! And aptly, the background music during our conversation was some popular numbers from the Indian and Pakistani film industry. After a lot of chatting and culture sharing, my mind could not help but wander into that age old question. Why? Why do our two countries fight? There is so much we can learn from each other. India could definitely learn a thing or two from the textile industries of Pakistan and the Pakistanis could definitely learn about the IT industry from us. Ali wanted to come to India to learn at the IIT because the IITs are at the forefront of the technology that Ali is studying. Now that is a win-win situation for both parties. Ali gets the platform to turn his ideas into reality and the IITs can benefit from some top quality research. But alas political boundaries has put huge barriers to the pursuit of mutually beneficial good. What can be solved over 60 minutes of talking has taken over 60 years of fighting and still yielded no results. I think it is upto people like Ali and us to take the relationship between the two countries to newer heights. We have so much to gain from each other and cant let airheaded politicians spoil the relationships between the two nations. To all you Indians out there. I strongly suggest that when you travel abroad, you make efforts to make friends with Pakistanis. There would be a sea of change in your attitudes. You cant help but feel connected to them and love them for being like us. There has been enough damage done by the prevous generations. It time now to change all that and treat each other with the respect that we rightfully deserve.