THE LAST MILE

EVERY EVENING AT 4.30 PM, IN Hussainiwala, Punjab, a crowd gathers near the National Martyrs Memorial.

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As the sun dips, soldiers on both sides of the border stomp, salute and shout slogans: "Hindustan Zindabad" meets "Pakistan Zindabad." It is an echo of Wagah, but smaller, lesser-known, and perhaps more intimate. Only a few kilometres away from the Memorial lies a Muslim pir's dargah revered by Indians and Pakistanis alike. Pilgrims are known to have once sought permission from the Border Security Force (BSF) to cross over and pray.

Here, the memory of the freedom struggle meets the paradox of partition. Hussainiwala is also the site where Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev were cremated in 1931-a place of patriotic pilgrimage that now looks out across the barbed-wire fence of the border.

This coexistence of tension and faith, separation and connection is what fascinated journalist and author Pradeep Damodaran to travel India's frontiers. His 2017 book "Borderlands: Stories from India's Boundaries" (Hachette) is a result of a 17-month journey of documenting life on India's margins.