This restaurant at the Pakistan-India border puts friendship first
I was told by a colleague that whenever you cross the Wagah/Attari border into India you should halt for a cup of tasty
masala chai at Balay Balay Restaurant, which is about three miles from the frontier.
I was in a hurry so I didn’t take his advice but on my return trip, when I had enough time before the closure of gates at 4pm our time and 3.30 Indian Standard Time, I stopped for a while. The tea was good but the setting, not to speak of the toilet, left much to be desired.
About a couple of miles from the border I saw the bazaar of the border village Attari and had a good look at what was on sale. It was unmistakably like the bazaars in our small towns, with just three differences – the signboards were in Devnagri scripts, there were cycle rickshaws and a generous sprinkling of turbaned and bearded Sikhs.
I bought a kg of ginger, of all items, since there was some purity about it. The ginger we get in Karachi these days is ‘cleaned’ by a chemical, which makes it ‘smooth’ and heavier. I buried the bulbs of ginger in my flower pots and am thrilled to see their leaves sprouting.
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