'Breaking Barriers': Indian CEO's Bond With Pakistani Friend at Harvard Wins Hearts

A LinkedIn user, Sneha Biswas, has shared a touching story of friendship and how it transcends borders of countries. Growing up in India, all she had known of Pakistan revolved around narratives of rivalry with Pakistan. Sneha narrated how she met her now closest friend from Pakistan on her first day at Harvard Business School and how it changed her outlook. She wrote about how they bonded over “multiple chais, biryanis, financial models and case study preps”. She learnt about how her friend grew up in a conservative Pakistani backdrop, but with supportive parents.

While her Pakistani friend’s stories about chasing her dreams resonated with Sneha, her bold choices inspired her. “I realized that while pride for your individual nations stand strong, your love for people transcends geographies and boundaries. People, fundamentally, are similar everywhere. Boundaries, borders and spaces are built by humans, and while it all might make sense to the head, the heart often fails to understand them,” Sneha wrote in part of her post.

She shared a photo of the two of them together, with Sneha holding the Pakistani flag and her friend holding the Indian tricolour on Harvard’s flag day, joyfully breaking barriers. She wrote: “Look at us on the famous flag day at #harvard – flaunting our flags and smiling away at the joy of “breaking barriers” – not just literally between India and Pakistan, but also for the countless little girls from India and Pakistan who are scared to shoot for the stars.”

Read part of her post below:

“We built walls between each other, and thus, it’s up to us to bring them down. ????,” a LinkedIn user commented. “Exactly, across the man made LOC we are the same people. Surely you two share a life long friendship that may bring changes across the borders for girls on both sides and be inspired to lead,” wrote another. While the post saw many supportive comments, there were also a host of negative ones. Reacting to this, one LinkedIn user Breshna Rani wrote in part of her comment, “It is so sad and appalling to see the comments of many many people who are not able to create a boundary with politics, government and Pakistan as a country beyond its government. The people in this comment section are on and on about Pakistans international policies and it’s government, but is that all a country is!??”

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