Ajoka theatre: Pakistani students will stage ‘Border-Border’ in India

* ‘Toba Tek Singh’ will be staged at Amritsar

By Shoaib Ahmed: Daily Times, August 4, 2005

LAHORE: Students from schools in Lahore will go to India to stage the play ‘Border-Border’, which has been produced and directed by Ajoka theatre, said Madeeha Gauhar of Ajoka.

She said the play, which would be staged at Amritsar on August 15, was part of the ongoing rapprochement between the two countries. She said that on August 14, Ajoka and the students would light up clay candles, a year old tradition, at the Indian side of the border to commemorate those who lost their lives at Partition.

Gauhar said that 17 students from Cathedral, Aitchison, Beaconhouse and Grammar schools would leave for India via Wagah on August 6. She said that the play was in collaboration with 17 Indian students of Springdale School and they would perform in the play as well. The play was staged in Lahore, Islamabad, Delhi and Amritsar in last August as well.

Harinder Sandhu directed and Shahid Mehmood Nadeem wrote ‘Border-Border’. She said that while politicians, bureaucrats and generals were unable to get out of the mess they themselves had created, the students, through the play, would offer hope and could provide an impetus to the peace efforts. Gauhar told Daily Times that Ajoka theatre was going to India on the invitation of Springdale School and the All Punjab Artists Performing Network.

She said that ‘Toba Tek Singh’ would also be performed at Amritsar. Ajoka would visit India again in September and would perform ‘Bullah’ in Farid Kot at Baba Farid’s mela. She said Ajoka production ‘Aik Aur Dariya’ would be staged in Lahore in October.

Sandhu said that ‘Border-Border’ was inspired by the need for cross border understanding and goodwill. Language and shared cultural heritage bound the two nations together, she added.

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