At Chushul in Ladakh, about 100 km from where a Chinese platoon has intruded into Indian territory and set up camp, Indian soldiers today crossed over to China and celebrated May Day with Chinese soldiers.
This is a formal event called a Border Personnel Meeting or BPM - four of which are held every year. Chinese troops come over to celebrate India's Republic Day on January 26 and Independence Day on August 15. India reciprocates on May 1 and October 1, the Chinese National Day.
These meetings are meant to serve as ice-breakers between officers and men on either side. Some families are allowed too, but not much ice was broken at the few BPMs that this writer attended. They were rather stiff, formal affairs.
Brigadier-level officers lead each side. There is a formal welcome at the entry gate and the national anthem of the host country is played. Salutes made, the two delegations proceed to a round table where, in a formal statement, each side records its concerns and any local issue that might be an irritant.
Through all this, the wives and children mix in another room.
Very little verbal communication is possible since language is a problem. Even if the Chinese know English, they pretend they don't. And I did not come across any Indian officers' wives there who could speak Mandarin.
So they either try to make small talk through interpreters or then smile vacuously at each other until it is time for cocktails and cultural programmes.
Photographs are clicked, glasses clinked. But the tension bred by unfamiliarity is palpable.
The Chinese have an advantage. They keep their Senior Colonel (equivalent to the Indian Brigadier) posted in a particular sector for a prolonged period. Indian Brigadiers have tenures of 15 to 18 months. So the Chinese Senior Colonel gets to meet at least four Indian Brigadiers in five years.
These meetings are held in Bumla, near Tawang, and Kibitho in Arunachal Pradesh, Nathula in Sikkim and Chushul.
For over 25 years after India and China fought the bitter war of 1962, there was no formal contact between their armies. The BPMs were adopted post-1988, with a gradual thaw in relationship.
Today's BPMs took place despite the stand-off provoked by Chinese troops pitching tents on April 15, 19 km inside Indian territory in the Depsang Valley in Ladakh.