The La Martiniere boys with their teacher at the Wagah border. Picture by Rohin Banerji

Months before the Google search ad that poignantly captures the reunion of two friends from across the border separated by Partition went viral, a group of boys from the city crossed the Wagah border by foot to make new friends in Lahore.

Eight students from La Martiniere for Boys, along with their art teacher Romi Majumder, were at Aitchison College, Lahore, to attend a three-day art and performing arts festival.

The boys chose a train journey to Amritsar over flight via Dubai since, in Class XI student Advita Mohunta’s words, “it’s not everyday that a student gets to walk across the border”.

The La Martiniere team were accompanied by students of British Co-Ed High School, Patiala, and Vasant Valley School, Delhi.

The students were touched by the hospitality of the hosts and impressed by the infrastructure of the school that boasts Imran Khan among its alumni.

“Two hundred acres of their campus against six acres of ours,” said Rohin Banerji, who also went spotting birds like Grey Hornbill and kites around the campus. The boys were equally amazed by the fact that each tree on the school ground had a tag carrying both the local and scientific names.

The sprawling campus was patrolled by Pathans on bicycles armed with rifles which was “not a rare sight there”.

The boys came back not just with a bag full of stories to share but also prizes. Srutarshi Adhikari of Class XI won the first prize in instrumental (violin) and Sombuddha Sengupta, also Class XI, the second prize in thematic art.

“Their major achievement is not the prizes they won but how they have made friends for life,” said principal Sunirmal Chakravarthi, who received the invitation in June. “Before their visit, there were a few disturbances but let alone cancel the tour, none of the parents even approached me.”

Rudradev Roy has a honest-deed story to share. The Class IX boy lost his wallet and “a guy I didn’t even know told me I looked worried and volunteered to help me search. A kitchen employee of the school had found the wallet and kept it with him. He handed it over to me”.

The Pakistani students were really curious about India, said Ahon Gooptu, Class IX, while Vibhor Kumar chipped in: “They bombarded us with questions about Calcutta, especially Durga Puja.”

The La Martiniere students were also taken around the city to Lahore Fort, Minar-e-Pakistan and Liberty Market. “The Liberty Market is very much like our New Market with similar alleys. The difference is that here a shopkeeper might charge us an extra Rs 50, but a shopkeeper in Lahore gave each of us an onyx key chain worth 100 in Pakistani rupees for free when he heard we were from India,” said Nikhil Ghosh.

It was not for nothing that Rohin’s father had remarked. “I envy you. I am 44 and I couldn’t cross the border and you could do it at the age of 17.”