To warm up the crowd, patriotic filmi geet blared from loudspeakers—Mere Desh ki Dharti, Hai Preet Jahan Ki Reet Sada and Rang de Basanti Chola—that rousing martial Punjabi folksong celebrating warriors going to battle wearing yellow waistcoats. The crowd clapped in time to the music, waved their little tricolour flags, and young men got up to dance the bhangra. Over on the other side too, there was singing, clapping and waving of green and white flags, though it has to be said their songs were no match for our old Manoj Kumar favourites. Whenever the crowd's jingoistic zeal flagged, it would be stirred up again by a man in a frayed sleeveless sweater, who looked like a retired schoolmaster. "Bolo Bharat Mata ki jai!, bolo Vande Mataram!" he would exhort us. From the other side would come an answering echo, "Paakistaaan Zindabaaaaad!"
