'Split Across Borders' by Ajit Chandrasekhar
Split Across Borders
by Ajit Chandrasekhar
Imagine if one part of your property is in one country or state, and another part is in another country or state. This can happen.
One example is one part of your house in France and another part in Monaco. Your bedroom is in France and your kitchen is in Monaco.
A mother tells her children, a son and a daughter, ‘We are going to Monaco for dinner.’ The boy gets up from his study and asks, ‘What? When?’
‘Now,’ says the mother.
The mother and the two children go down the stairs to the kitchen. The mother boils up some pasta. While the pasta is cooking, the father returns from work. The children prepare the bread and soup. The father makes the salad. The boy lays the table in the kitchen. The girl brings the pasta and soup. And all four of them sit down and eat and laugh. ‘We are in Monaco now.’
For dessert they have ice-cream. After dinner, the family goes to their bedrooms. Before going to bed, everybody says, ‘We are in France, now.’ (Laughter).
In India, near the Indo-Bangladesh border in Tripura, in Kailashsheher district, which I have seen on TV, there is a house in India with a garden in Bangladesh.
I heard of one more place. It is between Belgium and Netherlands. The town is called Baarle-Hartog in Belgium, and Baarle-Nassau in Netherlands. I saw a picture of a house in which one part is in one country, and the other part is in the other country. The border runs through the front door.
I read an article in the Deccan Herald about a small town called Navapur. The Navapur station is partly in Maharashtra and partly in Gujarat. The newspaper article has a picture of a bench. A gentleman is sitting on the bench with one foot in Maharashtra and another foot in Gujarat. It was really funny!
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Ajit Chandrasekhar is a Bangalore-based writer and artist.
Really enjoyed reading the blog post and didn’t even know about all these places and houses that had half in one place and half in another.
ReplyDeleteDid you know that Lugano in Switzerland is also a bit like this. Because it’s a bordering region to the Italian border. What cyclists do for training is they ride Switzerland, Italy, France in one ride because the borders are so close. 😁😁
Thank you for sharing this!
DeleteLove your writing Ajit. Very humorous and witty.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting Ajit! After reading this, I wish I lived in a house that was spread across two countries.
ReplyDeleteI love this! I bet there are lots of jokes about carrying your passport when you go the kitchen as well :) Thank you for this story!
ReplyDeleteAjit, what an interesting topic you have chosen to write about, and how simply you have written to capture our imagination.
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this, Ajit. Look forward to more.
ReplyDeleteSent to Print.Able:
ReplyDeleteHey Ajit, very nice.
This was also true in East and West Germany and Berlin.
Bobby
Sent to Print.Able:
ReplyDeleteThis is lovely Ajit. Great storytelling and very visual.
Sam
Sent to Print.Able:
ReplyDeleteHey Ajit,
I've been to Kailashahar and cycled from India through Bangladesh and back to India in the space of half a Km!
Keep it up.
Anand
Hey this was a lot of information that was new to me. All told in a way that had me grinning ear to ear! Thanks Ajit.
DeleteFrom Tara
Such great storytelling, Ajit! Really enjoyed reading this. Look forward to your next piece! Anska
ReplyDeleteVery interesting, Ajit. Makes one look at borders in a different, friendly light. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteHi Ajit! Thank you for this text! I live in Switzerland, but my soul often goes to Montreal, where I was born or to Mumbai, where my parents lived before moving to Canada!
ReplyDeleteHi Ajit - enjoyed your article! I can add to your list of places - the main airport here in NW Jersey where two terminals are in the city of Elizabeth and the other in the city of Newark. The Statue of Liberty is actually in New Jersey when the rest of the world thinks it is in New York! and then there is the famous 4 Corner. This is where four US states, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Nevada meet. So one can be straddling two states and touching the other two at the same time! JJ
ReplyDeleteInteresting article. Here in Assam, the NH 6 passes through Jorabat.. one side of the road is meghalyaand the other is Assam
ReplyDeleteLovely little piece!
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed ur article Ajit.very interesting.keep on writing.
ReplyDeleteHappy Evening Ajit, the way you have written is in a very engaging style!! You had me engrossed in your piece!
ReplyDeleteThanks to you, I learnt something new about geographical boundaries. Across the globe.
Boundaries are made by us. We are capable of living in harmony too. That messaging I enjoyed
I sense a subtle humorous touch!
Appreciate the picture. Thanks much. Happy Day
Print.Able is posting a comment by Ajit:
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your comments. Very interesting. I learnt a lot. Ajit
Enjoyed readong. Yes boundaries are made by us.
ReplyDeleteLive n let Live shd be the motto
Wonderful! I love this so much.
ReplyDeleteVery intresting observation and write -up. Keep writing.
ReplyDeleteDear Ajit, thoroughly enjoyed reading your very interesting article! You have chosen such a fascinating topic! and written about it in a wonderfully simple, funny and engaging story telling style! I learnt a lot of new things from your article. For example, I knew about rivers (like the Niagara Falls) with one shore in one country (the USA) and the other shore in another country (Canada) but it was really funny to learn about the same house with a border going through it! And I especially admired the picture you drew of the man with each foot in a different State! Keep writing, Ajit! You have great talent! Love, Missy.
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