The cockerels strut and stamp, heads jerking, chests puffed, in a swaggering display of mock aggression. Each evening at Wagah, a border crossing between India and Pakistan, scowling soldiers in dress uniform fling high-kicks worthy of a cancan dancer and march about at triple speed. For the tourists crammed into stands on either side of the border, it is a chance to roar patriotic approval at a supremely choreographed show. As the sun sets the guards glare eyeball-to-eyeball, give extravagant arm twitches, and then lower flags and slam shut the gates. For decades India and Pakistan have coordinated the camp, 40-minute performance-bitter rivals collaborating on a daily regimen of prancing, if little else.
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