Original subtitles

(light upbeat music)

India and Pakistan form a mysterious

sub-continent for the different cultures and religions.

(light upbeat music) (scraping on the stone)

In the colonial era the British developed

an ancient route into a highway, they named the road,

which ran right through their realm, the Grand Trunk Road.

(light upbeat music)

Like a pulsating lifeline the legendary route stretches

for 2,500 kilometers, an unforgettable experience.

(light upbeat music)

(truck engines revving)

(car horns honking)

(car horns honking)

(car horns honking)

The Grand Trunk Road runs from Kolkata to Benares

along the Ganges to Delhi.

It crosses the Pakistani border and continues

on to Lahore and Peshawar.

Our journey begins in the Sundarbans

on the Gulf of Bengal.

These mangrove forests in the south are still the habitat

of Bengal tigers and crocodiles.

In this nature reserve where saltwater and freshwater

intermingle, the wildlife has adapted perfectly.

(deep thoughtful music)

European mariners and merchants landed in India

in the 16th century.

Back then the coastal regions on the Gulf of Bengal

still looked just like the Sundarbans today.

For centuries ships from Europe anchored here

before returning home laden with treasures and goods

from this vast land.

(light mellow music)

In order to develop, rule and exploit

the subcontinent more efficiently,

the British brought goods from all over India

via the Grand Trunk Road.

As a result, small villages in nearby Kolkata

grew into a trading center of outstanding importance,

(truck engines revving)

and a special place for the start of our journey.

The buildings in this city of 15 million are a reminder

of colonial times.

At the moment it's bedlam here.

For 10 days the people of Kolkata will be celebrating

an important religious festival, the Durga Puja.

Throughout the Hindu world,

but especially in Kolkata in West Bengal,

the faithful are awaiting the arrival of Durga,

the great maternal deity in all her manifestations.

Something different takes place every day.

(drums beating)

(people chattering)

(bells ringing)

The focus today is on banana plants,

people take them with them

on their ritual bath in the Ganges.

In doing so they pay homage to the fertility

of plants that provide food.

The faithful believe that the plants

can also conceal aspects of the great goddess Durga.

(meditative drumming music)

(people chattering)

The festival is also an economic factor in Kolkata,

the central flower market is a hive of activity.

Every household is decorated for the festival.

Countless garlands of flowers are needed

for procession and altars.

Families give one another flowers and invite one another

to come and visit.

(people chattering)

Vast quantities of flowers and posies are turned over here

and distributed to the smaller markets in the suburbs.

This provides small traders, flower arrangers

and vendors with an income, so they to profit

from the festival of the great goddess, Durga.

(people chattering)

(singing in foreign language)

Another suburb in Kolkata lives

from producing statues of deities for the alters

and processions during Durga Puja.

Hundreds of thousands of figurines are made

throughout the year and sold to households,

neighborhood communities, firms, and private individuals.

(light music)

The sculptures are elaborately crafted from wood,

clay and papier-mache in hundreds of small workshops.

Work goes on all year round

because demand during Durga Puja is huge.

(light music)

The figurines are thoroughly sandpapered, painted,

made non-slip and adorned with splendid garments.

It takes many steps to create these sculptures

in such a way that aspects

of the goddess Durga are recognizable.

The aim is to attract deities to come and linger

in the statues for the duration of the festival.

This calls for massive effort and a great love

of detail for a celebration that lasts only a few days.

(car horns honking) (people chattering)

Families get together and visit one another

for the festival.

The roads are even more congested than normal.

(people chattering) (car horns honking)

Garlands of flowers from the wholesale markets

are sold on in the streets.

Red powder for facial decoration is in great demand.

(people chattering) (car horns honking)

Although the monsoon season is actually over

there are constant downpours,

climate change long since reached India, too.

(rain patterning)

It is particularly crowded around the temple

to the goddess Kali.

A visit here during the festival is a sacred duty

for every Hindu.

Residents have erected temples in every street,

just for the visits of the gods during Durga Puja.

(people chattering) (birds chirping)

The city's great merchant families invite people

into their houses.

(people chattering)

The exterior gives no indication of the splendor inside.

(people chattering)

During the Puja everyone is welcome and catered for

and allowed to marvel at the house altar

the lavish decorations.

This is where the huge families come together

as well as friends, guests, and visitors from the street.

(people chattering)

(bells ringing) (drums beating)

In every family like the Malik's here,

one of the older brothers is responsible

for the spiritual procedures and observation of the rituals.

(people chattering)

Listening to gods, we should continue

and good efforts, to cover the good efforts

to continue this Puja and everything and performing,

because we know that the Puja means

that is the assembling of the soul and of every man

and woman and child, child and childrens

and everywhere, they are assembled here.

And they are, whatever they are within the enter here,

maybe some others, we are cannot connect today,

but during the Puja everywhere is they are here

and we sharing our views and we are enjoying Durga Puja.

In the streets too, people flock

to the specially erected temples.

Naturally Durga Puja is a media event,

not only in Bengal but throughout India.

For days now journalist, Pooja Basu

has been reporting hourly on the festival

for India's main news channel.

This particular day is dedicated

to married women and mothers.

(drumming music)

This is the last day, it is said that Maa,

the Durga Maa, she's going back to her own place.

This is the time she comes back to our mother's place,

and now she's going back to her in-laws' place.

So, you know, that this is the vermilion that we use,

it's very auspicious for us.

All the married ladies, they use this vermilion

and so they put vermilion in mother's face.

And like this way they celebrate,

and this is the time of celebration.

We are actually associated with this festival

from our birth, like we are born with this festival,

you can say.

So like the young and old, they're all participate

in this festival, and this is the festival

we're looking forward to throughout the year.

(people chattering)

(people shouting)

The festival is over

and the altars are being taken down.

The deities have left them and the people here are happy.

(lively drumming music)

(people chattering)

Not just in Kolkata, throughout the entire Hindu world

the altars, some of which are very heavy, are dismantled

and taken to holy lakes and rivers.

They've served their purpose and offered the gods a home

during the festival.

But as Hinduism teaches, everything is transient,

even if it was created at great cost and effort.

(water splashes)

(energetic drumming music)

At one time on this particular day, hundreds of thousands

of divine images could be seen floating in the Ganges

and the country's other rivers.

But for some years now the requirements

of environmental protection have curbed this practice.

The altars and the effigies of deities

are still thrown into the water,

but the refuse collection services fish them out

of the Ganges again, and dispose of them.

Nothing remains of the lovingly made sculptures

with their brocade fabrics, their colors and their wigs.

(lively drumming music) (people chattering)

The British took their culture to India with them,

their religion, their troops, their legal system

and their palaces.

Even today, many years since India achieved independence

in 1947, the colonial era is still noticeable,

also through the Victorian buildings and symbols.

With the last look at queen Victoria, we begin our journey.

(thoughtful music)

Our first destinations from Kolkata are Bodhgaya

and Varanasi on the sacred river Ganges.

(thoughtful music)

Throughout India and Pakistan the Grand Trunk Road

is known simply as the GT Road.

Outside Kolkata it is just a little street

with lots of hustle and bustle by the roadside.

(vehicle horns honking) (people chattering)

Along the way there are constant reminders

of the colonial era.

French locations expressing the ideal

of liberty, equality and fraternity.

(car horns honking) (people chattering)

Danish churches and trading houses stand close

to Christian churches from the days of the Portuguese

who settled in India, even before the British.

Today, this complex is run by

the Don Bosco order of Salesians monks,

it is visited by many local inhabitants.

(people chattering)

(children laughing)

(people chattering)

Father Francis returned here after several years

spent at various locations around the world

on behalf of his order.

He's been surprised by many things.

(speaking in foreign language)

(speaking in foreign language)

From all religions, they come, flock,

as you see now, this very moment.

They're not all Catholics for Christians,

they belong to different religions,

but they all unite in showing their devotion and love

to Mother Mary.

And it is something nice to know that we, Indians,

though we belong to different cultures, languages

and castes, we come together as one family.

(people chattering)

Mother Teresa's captured the heart of all Indians,

not only India, I would say all world.

But in India, especially in Calcutta, she is so much loved.

In fact, when she died, you should've seen the crowd

of peoples going to her with the flowers to show

the last respects to her, and everyone was moved.

And it was sort of a loss for us, her passing away,

and we are also happy today she's a saint.

(engines revving) (deep thoughtful music)

We've covered the first 500 kilometers

on the GT Road, but another 2,000 still lie ahead.

In Bihar province, we experience rural India.

Over 800 million Indians live

in the most basic circumstances, as farmers or harvesters.

They work in the fields and tend livestock.

Occasionally we come across a brickyard,

the bricks fired here are made of clay

brought by the waters of the Ganges and used here

for thousands of years.

(deep thoughtful music)

This stupa dates back to the days of the Buddha.

For us it marks the start of an encounter

with another world religion on the Grand Trunk Road.

(singing in foreign language)

In the poor federal state of Bihar

the places where the Buddha taught, meditated

or preached are a magnet of visitors.

People come here from all over the world

and visit this stupa on their way to Bodhgaya,

where, according to legend,

the great Gautama Buddha found enlightenment.

Thus on the Grand Trunk Road

we reached the Mecca of the Buddhist world

and immerse ourselves in religious history

dating back six centuries before Jesus Christ.

In Bodhgaya we've arranged to meet

Indian doctor, Tanu Varma.

We find her at the yoga exercises she does every morning.

Dr. Varma cares for children at welfare schools

all over India, where she reintroduces traditional forms

of yoga and meditation.

Dr. Varma is a Hindu, but it is also perfectly natural

for her to visit the Holy sites of Buddhism in Bodhgaya.

(birds chirping)

I'm a Hindu, but Lord Buddha,

he gave us a path of enlightenment.

I never compare like Lord Buddha as a (indistinct) Hindu

because the final part, everyone has to get the aim of life,

and that is enlightenment.

Everyone have to travel from a different, different way

but everyone have to reach the same place.

So for me, Lord Buddha, as my role model, and he really

he was a married person, he married, he lived his life,

but he really shows the people, what is the suffering

and how to get off suffering from all the problems of life

from the practices in a very normal way,

and a very simple way.

(birds chirping)

For Tanu Varma, yoga is far more

than physical exercise.

in India, yoga is, again, being used more and more

to treat illness, from concentration disorders to diabetes,

it's an important element of her projects with children.

(birds chirping)

According to ancient scripture diseases

always first in the mind, and then it's centered

in the body.

So when we practice yoga, our mind, our mental status

always get relaxed and we're able to get right decisions.

Tanu Varma also visit schools in Bodhgaya

that are part of her project, welfare schools

financed with donations.

(children humming in meditation)

At these institutions, this young doctor

has had great success in reintroducing breathing

and concentration exercises adopted from yoga.

The children come from the poorest families

which do not practice these ancient health theories

from the Vedas, the holy scriptures of Hinduism.

Tanu Varma teaches the exercises

in a friendly but strict and precise way.

Thank you very much to all of you.

(speaking in foreign language)

Like millions of people,

every year Tanu Varma visits the holy sites in Bodhgaya

around the Bodhi tree, also known as the wisdom tree.

This is where the Buddha is said to have meditated

and found his way.

This place is just as important to Buddhists as Jerusalem

Mecca or Rome are two other religions.

(deep thoughtful music)

Visitors come from the world's many Buddhist countries,

but the story of Siddhartha, the son of a king

is famous almost everywhere.

When he saw the suffering in the world

he decided to abandon his old life.

It's a story that still touches people today

and moves them to travel here, to pray and to meditate.

Siddhartha came back to palace

and he asked his father, his aunt, and for everyone,

"What is the way to get rid of suffering?"

And he ask permission from anyone,

"I want to find a path, what is the way

"to get rid of sufferings?"

And then the same day he leave the house,

he leave his wife and his son.

He really loved them, but he wanted to get rid

of all the sufferings for humanity.

This is where Siddhartha found enlightenment

2,500 years ago.

And Tanu enjoys meditating deeply here.

It's a wonderful place visited

by people who have yearned to be here

and who conduct themselves accordingly.

No one here is controlled.

Buddhism, it is said, is more of a philosophy

than a religion.

(singing in foreign language)

The impression gained is that many people here

have found peace.

(speaking in foreign language)

(birds chirping)

Lord Buddha said, "Whatever you have or whatever you need

"just try to be satisfied with that much things.

"Don't try to be, too much greedy.

"If you are too much greedy,

"you never be satisfied and you never be happy."

(people chattering)

But the large statue of the Buddha,

we take our leave of Tanu Varma and Bodhgaya,

a place that is very special.

(birds chirping) (people chattering)

(upbeat music)

The Grand Trunk Road has become an Indian motorway.

We're approaching Varanasi on the Ganges,

the holiest city in Hinduism.

(deep thoughtful music)

(deep thoughtful music)

It's early morning on the sacred river in Varanasi,

hundreds of thousands of people are joyfully

taking a ritual bath.

This is an exceptional moment

in the life of any Hindu pilgrim.

Anyone who baths here in the Ganges

or even dies here stands the greatest possible chance

of escaping from the cycle of rebirth and entering nirvana.

(people chattering) (thoughtful music)

Varanasi was already an ancient place of pilgrimage

when Rome was founded.

The city of Lord Shiva on the Ganges has been a cultural

and religious center for over 3000 years.

On average, it is visited by 100,000 pilgrims every day,

or 36 million a year.

(thoughtful music) (people chattering)

(speaking in foreign language)

On the banks of the holy river,

priests belonging to the Brahmin caste

sit under large sunshades.

After bathing in the Ganges and having spruced up,

each pilgrim goes to see a priest.

(people chattering)

(speaking in foreign language)

I am a priest here.

People come round all over the India,

they come to me because the Brahmin,

the highest caste of the Hindu religion,

so they come to me to have a blessing.

So many kinds of people come, like people come

just for blessing, people come from,

bring the ashes for the parents.

People come for, also, who parents die,

they do the preta-karma.

So different kind of people come want to married,

people come want to wish something,

so many kind of people come here.

So it's going to be different, different karma.

So we are the Brahmin,

and we have to know the Vedas, to know about that karma.

So if people come here

then we bless them they give some money.

(people chattering)

The Brahmin priests have taken over their job

and the place where they sit

from their fathers and forefathers.

For yogis would their begging bowls

also defend their traditional spots,

which are passed by most of the pilgrims.

Here in the city of Lord Shiva, the visitors are generous,

and most of them no longer expect much

from this earthly life.

(people chattering)

It means people want to come to die here

to get the nirvana.

(children giggling) (people chattering)

So incarnation of this place,

even one is stones, one is stones like Shiva,

Where are you sit, this is also like a Shiva.

So just why that is special because of the Shiva.

All the stones is like Shiva Lingam.

So in the earth is like a magnet.

When people come, they feel like a home,

divine with this magnet.

In the world two places is holy, holy and very powerful.

First is Varanasi and second in Jerusalem.

The stream of pilgrims never abates

even at night.

On the contrary, buying flower lights

and making a flower lady happy is extremely popular.

This ritual is known as Ganga Aarti

which is the start of a magical night by the Ganges.

Buying a small light and letting it float on the river

is a devotional ritual that uses fire as an offering.

That alone makes it something the faithful

should aspire to.

(singing in foreign language) (drumming music)

When it is completely dark,

the actual fire ritual gets underway.

Clad in ceremonial clothing, chosen priests

from the Brahmin caste celebrate it

for several hours every night.

Depending on the sensibilities of the observer,

it's an atmosphere ranging from spiritual magic

to religious show.

(singing in foreign language) (drumming music)

Varanasi used to be known as Benares.

In fact, its original name was Kashi,

which means city of light.

The nightly Hindu ritual in Lord Shiva's metropolis

does credit to a place that is thousands of years old.

(upbeat music)

(upbeat music) (car horns honking)

The Grand Trunk Road continues

through the Indian capital, New Delhi.

(upbeat music)

The Red Fort is a reminder of the cultural influences

of the mogul era and prepares us for an exciting

border crossing into Pakistan.

Before the British colonists left,

they divided the sub-continent into two states,

one Hindu the other Muslim,

a partition which has led to constant conflict.

Every evening, a ritual, which is probably unique worldwide,

takes place at the heavily guarded Indo-Pakistani border

crossing near Lahore.

(singing in foreign language)

(crowd cheering) (crowd clapping)

(crowd cheering) (crowd clapping)

To the Delight of the many spectators,

Pakistan's border unit demonstrates its defensive potential

goosestepping and dressed

in the style of the old colonial army.

The same martial posturing takes place on the Indian side,

vis-a-vis the hostile sister state.

(crowd cheering) (crowd clapping)

Just before sunset something exceptional happens.

The border gate opens and the troop of guards

from each country face one another ready to lower

their respective flag,

(people speaking in foreign language)

The Indian soldiers with their red headdresses

and the Pakistanis in gray black now move

into top gear.

To the cheers of the delighted onlookers,

they show how dangerous they can be.

But despite all the enmity,

the overall impression is that the two sides

are not prepared to renounce what they have in common.

(crowd cheering)

The armies of the two countries have fought wars

against each other and sustained heavy losses.

And there are still constant military clashes in Kashmir

and the Himalayas.

Nevertheless, this absurd border performance

still takes place every evening

as the two sides lower their flags together.

(man speaking in foreign language)

And the border is closed on both sides,

and the flags taken to a safe place for the night.

(crowd cheering) (drumming music)

(light thoughtful music)

Built in the days of mogul rule,

the fort in Lahore is one of the most important

cultural monuments on the sub-continent,

and is a world cultural heritage site.

Similar architectural styles can be found in Delhi and Agra.

Were Lahore located in India, cultural travelers

from many countries would come here every day.

But Pakistan has an image problem,

so only a handful of indigenous visitors

stroll around an area of 20 hectares.

The paintings and the architecture recall the 300 years

in which Muslim moguls, from modern day Uzbekistan,

ruled in ancient India.

(deep thoughtful music)

The Grand Trunk Road ran directly from New Delhi to Lahore,

linking to cultural and commercial centers

in colonial India.

The Delhi Gate in the old town in Lahore was intended solely

for goods traffic with India's modern day capital.

The Delhi Gate is still one of the entrances

to the Walled City, Lahore's historic old town.

After weeks in India, the traveler feels like he is

in the Muslim quarter of an Indian city.

(car horn honking) (motorbike engine revving)

Life here takes place in the streets,

open air restaurants, lots of hustle and bustle,

traders, and far more men than women out and about.

No one described the mood in the Lahore

and on the Grand Trunk Road better

than English writer, Rudyard Kipling.

(motorbike engine revving) (people chattering)

(banging with the hammer)

(singing in foreign language)

(car horn honking)

Pakistani journalist, Xari Jalil

knows the history of Rudyard Kipling.

His descriptions of Lahore and the Grand Trunk Road.

A critical spirit Xari Jalil works for the Dawn newspaper.

This bookshop has many of Kipling's works on offer

not only the "Jungle Book,"

but also "Kim," the novel which earned him

the 1907 Nobel Prize for literature.

In it Kipling describes the life of Kim, an Irish orphan,

on the Grand Trunk Road in the colonial era.

The novel is regarded as a unique document

of living conditions in Lahore and on the road at the time.

Well, actually I think there's a lot of similarity

in what the Grand Trunk Road is how it's described

in this book and how it is today.

Because in this book it's said to be a river of life,

and I think today it's very, very true

because there's so many random people that you meet

on the Grand Trunk Road, there are sellers, salesmen,

and there are trucks and buses going along,

and people walking along the Trunk Road, you know.

There's so much like crowd over there,

and in the book, it was exactly same way.

I this have so much life,

but essentially the whole land of Pakistan,

and we're talking about the Grand Trunk Road,

so that, that brings us back to a pre-partition,

India, British India.

The whole land even from that time till today,

it's not supposed to be militant,

it's a land full of liberalism, freedom.

It's a land of people who want to believe

in whatever they will want to believe.

so historically speaking is not meant to be like that.

But now it's becoming worse slowly.

(children chattering) (children shouting)

Pakistan is different in ways

that few people can imagine.

No one would expect to find girl footballers training

in public in shorts and without wearing a headscarf.

But that too is possible, not to say, however,

that the girls aren't a contentious issue.

At times they have to face criticism,

even within their own families.

(football boots thumping against the balls)

Some parents didn't allow their children,

but most of them allow their children to play.

Many people criticize it because we are

in Islamic Republic of Pakistan,

so people think that playing football is something

like shame or wearing shorts and the socks,

and people call it a shame.

And when we say that we play football,

they'd be like, "Oh my God, you play football!"

So when someone is trying to play they try to criticize

and kill their dreams.

We believe that we can bring change if we are together,

and we play such games in which females are not

prominent or they're not playing or they're restricted.

(girl shouting)

Over the last decade

fundamentalism and violence have been on the increase

in Pakistan, but many people refuse to accept this.

They want to preserve the diverse and liberal Pakistan

of the past.

(girl cheering) (whistle blowing)

(spectators clapping)

(whistle blowing)

(upbeat music)

Our journey along the Grand Trunk Road continues

as we head towards the border with Afghanistan.

Right next to the main highway, we find a section

of the old road from colonial times that has been preserved,

a narrow cobbled strip, which at one time was used solely

by oxcarts, caravans, riders and pedestrians.

(lively music) (motorbike engine revving)

Today, the Grand Trunk Road is dominated by colorfully

painted Pakistani trucks.

(truck horn honking)

(motorbike engine revving)

The pride and joy of any Pakistani haulier or driver

is the personalized way his truck is decorated.

On the Grand Trunk Road there is one paint shop

next to another, and these businesses earn good money

for their customized art.

(people chattering) (car horns honking)

(engine revving) (people chattering)

Depending on customer requirements

trucks are decorated with flowers, ornaments, or verses

from the Quran, and money seems to be no problem.

Clients are prepared to pay up to $800

to have their trucks painted,

and that's a lot of money in this part of the world.

(people chattering) (people laughing)

(truck engines revving)

Sometimes hauliers also have themselves portrayed

on their vehicles, but in this case it seems

that the mustachioed truck owner had handed over

a picture from his youth for use as a template.

(truck engines revving)

(deep thoughtful music)

On our journey we've reached the second important river

on the sub-continent.

What the Ganges is to India, the Indus is to Pakistan.

The two rivers are lifelines bringing water and fertility

from the Himalayas to arid regions.

(deep thoughtful music) (water gurgling)

The route is getting rockier and the mountains

of Afghanistan closer.

In recent years this region has only been associated

with violence and bombings.

(deep thoughtful music) (train thudding on the tracks)

In the great game, played by the world's powers,

Peshawar, our final destination, is a city

that has particularly suffered.

(traffic bustling) (car horn honking)

On large posters the inhabitants of Peshawar

stress that they are not terrorists.

They're fighting for their image, a difficult task.

The tribal areas are constant trouble spots,

and the proximity of the border sees violence flare up

time and again.

For us too the Grand Trunk Road comes to an end

at the historic Khyber Pass.

The reason we were told is that the army is engaged

in a punitive operation near the border.

(people chattering)

Peshawar is actually an ancient Indian trading center.

The British recognized and exploited

its commercial importance early on.

Most of the population are Pashtuns,

a people who are said to be proud and reliable

and exceptionally stubborn.

The traditional food in Peshawar is legendary.

One particular delicacy is spicy kebabs mixed

with the scent of the street, they're fried in hot oil.

(speaking in foreign language)

(scraping against the stone)

Since the 1980s Peshawar has provided a home

for many refugees from Afghanistan,

and they're particularly skillful

in working with lapis lazuli.

The most important veins of this blue stone

lie Afghanistan, and lapis lazuli can be smuggled

into Peshawar without any problem.

(men chattering)

The profit margin in the trade with lapis lazuli

and gems is roughly as high as in the drugs trade.

(scraping against the stone)

Many Afghan refugee families have been forced

to earn their livelihood from the stone.

(birds chirping) (people chattering)

(speaking in foreign language)

Afghan traders know all the tricks.

Today to fetch a higher price,

lapis lazuli products are sometimes stained.

But Afghans know this and are on their guard.

Genuinely pure lumps of lapis lazuli

can fetch between 1,000 and $10,000 per kilogram.

The stones usually end up in Singapore or China.

(men chatting)

(speaking in a foreign language)

Peshawar is a trading center,

and for that reason alone this is a cosmopolitan city.

But Peshawar recent history is so horrific

as to be almost inconceivable.

(daunting music)

Shiite mosques are attacked time and again,

but undeterred the faithful still come to pray.

Here we made the acquaintance

of cardiologist, Dr. Hamid Ahmad,

he practices in a neighboring hospital, and in his breaks

he comes to the mosque to pray.

(sorrowful music)

(birds chirping) (people chattering)

Whenever there is a blast,

the injured persons and dead bodies

comes straight to our hospital,

that is Lady Reading Hospital, where I'm working.

So that time is very terrible

because people are just listing about blast,

but we are seeing it,

and we see people with lot of injuries.

And then a first time when there is relative of dead,

dead person or injured person reach to hospital

they meet each other, and those scenes

are very, very difficult to face.

Everything is in doubt, nobody's clear who is attacking

and who's attacking for what purpose.

But it seems to be involvement of different powers

with different interests, and these powers

are within the country and outside the country.

So I can't elaborate it

because we have very little knowledge about it.

(upbeat music)

As always, in the Afghan border region, too.

a look back at the history of this part

of the Grand Trunk Road is helpful.

The great game played by the powerful nations

for strategic positions, trade routes

and spheres of influence has always been

particularly pronounced here.

Nevertheless, along the Grand Trunk Road

we've experienced the peaceful coexistence

of different cultures and religions.

Probably nowhere else in the world can such diversity

still be admired on a road that is 2,500 kilometers long.

(light upbeat music)