A family came to India to marry his daughter. Another person came, and the young children were able to meet their grandparents for the first time. A woman traveling alone had arrived for the funeral of her mother, whom she had never seen in years.
At the border where Pakistan was torn from India decades ago, they pleaded with anyone a little more with anyone. They completed their marriage just two days apart, and mourned the still fresh grave.
It was not allowed.
India has ordered almost all Pakistani citizens to leave, part of the government's response to the terrorist attacks with Pakistan. The Pakistani government, denying its involvement in last week's attack, retaliated with its own measures, including cancellation of visas for most Indian citizens.
Over the weekend, a disastrous scene unfolded on the main lands that traverse both countries as people scrambled to obey orders.
Families like Takt Singh, with members on both sides of the border, faced painful separation. His young daughter and his son have Pakistani passports. His wife and his eldest daughter have Indians.
They were all in Rajasthan, India for the wedding of their eldest daughter, Pintu. When India announced the cancellation of her visa, the family left her in her future husband's village and rushed to the border crossing, hoping to turn it into a home before closing.
However, Singh's wife, Sindhu Kanwar, was not permitted to proceed for her Indian passport.
“They say your mother cannot go to Pakistan with you,” said the couple's young daughter, Sarita, 15.
Above all, it is the border that symbolizes the history of these two countries. This is estranged and often hit despite its vast shared heritage.
British colonial rule ended in 1947 by dividing India along a predominantly arbitrary line, creating Pakistan as another country for Muslims. Massive migration to two new countries caused horrific religious blood, killing up to 2 million people.
Since then, we have seen wars repeatedly for decades, and the sector has become stricter. A beautiful Himalayan region, Kashmir is bearing the brunt of continued trouble between the two countries.
At the time of India's division, the Hindu rulers of Kashmir, the princely state of the majority of Muslims, wanted to maintain their independence. Pakistan sent militias and took over parts of the region, and in exchange for security assurances it quickly became part of India.
Kashmir has been in contest since then. While countries currently control part of the region, they are claiming in the whole. The people who live there have been little to say.
People on both sides of the India-Pakistan gap are troubled by the memories of their loved ones left behind. Some have tried to protect cross-border ties, especially through marriage.
It has become increasingly difficult over the years. Even before the latest flare-up, diplomatic relations between the countries were largely severed and visas were rarely issued.
Departures are even more inspiring because of how difficult it is for those who have been forced to leave recently to get a visa and cross the border in the first place.
Even Hindus who fled India from the rising and persecution of Pakistan's religious minorities were in uncertainty.
In recent years, India has claimed itself as a heaven for persecuted Hindus in the region. Many people living in refugee camps have acquired Indian citizenship. But others worry that they may be forced to leave now.
Hanuman Prasad, a camp resident in Rohini in northwest Delhi, came to India from Sindh, Pakistan more than a decade ago. He said his brother and sister were stuck at the border trying to enter India. He has Indian citizenship, but his wife and six children are in the country on various different visas.
“What will they do to us? Will they put us in prison?” he asked. “If they try to send us back, we will fight and protest.”
He said that even if the government uproots the family with Penn's stroke, he doesn't understand the pain of relocation.
“Even birds hesitate before they put their nest,” Prasad said. “We sold our farmland, our houses, our belongings, everything to India. What will we go back to and go back there?”
With a few narrow exceptions from India's deadline for Pakistani citizens, chaos continued on the Indian side of Atari Waga land in Punjab to lapse the country on Saturday.
A family with suitcases bound to the roof of the vehicle arrived hoping to cross to Pakistan, but only those holding the country's green passport could proceed.
Rabika Begum, who said he was in his 40s, had been trying for five years to get an Indian visa. She was ultimately given to attend her mother's funeral in Uttar Pradesh.
“My husband is on dialysis in Pakistan and my mother has passed away on this side,” said Begum, who is ready to return. “We didn't even get a fair chance to cry at her grave or hold it long enough before the government asked us to leave.”
“What did I do?” she said. “What happened in Kashmir and what is my fault?”
Famida Sheikh, who has been living in Pakistan since 1987 and has obtained a Pakistani passport through marriage, said after 10 years of attempts he received a visa to visit his brothers in India. She was only there for two weeks.
“We didn't even unpack properly,” she said.
Vahida Khan, 24, was visiting her parents in India. She has an Indian passport, but her two children, 7 and 3, have Pakistanis. Her Pakistani husband was waiting for them on the other side.
She spent three days in an Indian town near the border crossing, trying to negotiate without permission how to reunite her family.
“The government won't let me go,” she said, “and won't allow my children to stay here.”
For Singh's family, this was seen as a week of hard-earning joy. This is the first marriage of one of the children.
They live in Amarcott city, Pakistan city, Sindh, and Singh recently retired as an officer in the government's agricultural sector.
He and his wife were working hard to find a suitable groom for their daughter across the borders of Rajasthan. The marriage agreement reached four years ago, but it took two years to obtain an Indian visa for the family, Singh said.
They did all their shopping, including buying 40 grams of gold gems in Rajasthan. Guests had arrived from all over India when the government issued an order to leave.
“We have blood relatives in India and we will marry our daughters in India, so our lives are very closely tied,” Singh said. “How can we separate us like this? Who should we tell us about our misery?”
As his wife's Pakistan visa was suddenly cancelled, Singh called and appealed to the officers to come back with his family. They refused.
But they allowed one concession: she could walk with them to the final checkpoint and wave goodbye.
