12,000 km away in US, Indian and Pakistani students cope with border tension

They share our love for cricket, food and even Bollywood, said an Indian student

While tensions between Pakistan and India mount, a group of Pakistani and Indian entrepreneurs talk about their relations with each other all the way in Washington DC.

Students said that growing tensions in the subcontinent haven't impacted their relations with their neighbours all those many miles away from home, saying it is easier to be friends when you're outside the subcontinent.

Naseem, a student from Islamabad, said that both the countries are very similar, "Look at it closely and there isn't much of a difference."

Parth, who is studying to become a pharmacist said "The little bit of Hindi that I know, I can speak with them. So I think the culture overpowers any divides that we have." He said the divide between the two nations was one he had left far behind, 12,000 kilometres away. Students said it was easier to get along with fellow classmates from across the border in comparison to people from other places such as Europe and America.



Another student, Harshit, who runs an e-commerce analytics start-up focused on similarities between the two saying, "They share our love for cricket, food and even Bollywood. We joke about Afridi (Pakistani cricketer) all the time."

However, when questioned about conditions escalating at the border, Akash, a Georgetown University graduate said "Our generation will let go of this history. There's so much more to things".

But both Naseem and Akash concede that this isn't how their parents perceive each other's countries back home.

Many of the entrepreneurs plan on leaving the US and eventually heading back home one day. Harshit who has already found a start-up says that he has given himself about three years to learn all he can before heading home and utilising all that he has learned.

When questioned about security and safety concerns in the US Rahul said "Attacks on outsiders are scary but they happen everywhere, in Europe, Australia everywhere. It's not just in the US."

Another student, Anirudh, said that the key is to build relationships with Americans."Many of my American friends have learned how to do bhangra with me and so whenever the music starts, they put their hands in the air and start doing bhangra," he said.

This article originally appeared on NDTV.