Stunning re-treat

Treat for the eyes:)

The cold winter morning air of beautiful morning of almost every January 26th begins with a patriotic feeling. Still snuggled in quilts, holding hot coffee mugs, I generally love that holiday esp if it falls on a weekday :)

Republic day! The national capital is always buzz with this and that, and is the centre of attraction esp on the National Holidays (oh! I do not even want to mention the "poly-tick-all" or poly-tickle reasons :D )

Some of my non-Indian friends ask me about the capped gun at India gate :), and I tell them about the eternal flame - called the Amar Jawan Jyoti-which is basically the All-India War Memorial- burning there to commemorate the indomitable courage of our Armed Forces personnel who have made the supreme sacrifice in the service of the motherland.
The capped Hero is none other than the Amar Jawan, or the immortal soldier, and is symbolised by a reversed rifle topped by a helmet.

Ah! so, the all colourful republic day parade comprising of flag hoisting ceremony by the Hon'able President (with another head of state as the chief guest on this day), is followed by a grand parade full of the jhankis (tableaus) , dances, and representatives from all states (not to forget that as a school kid even I participated in the parade :)) which we watched on the oh-so-antique Door-darshan, and later-"forwarded" to the other channels is definitely one of my favourite National Days, and I guess I still like (much to the surprise of some of my friends!) almost every segment of the parade, even though it is almost same every year :)

The padma bhushan, Padma Shris (& Padma Shrimatis ( :D )) , the gallantry awards, the children winning the National Bravery Award for the year are all accompanied with a great display by the Forces - I hope I remember the names correctly - T-90 tank, ICV BMP-II Sharath, BrahMos missile, OSA-AK Weapon System, Operation Centre, Takshak Striker, Dhruv-the Advanced Light Helicopter etc, etc. The President of India who is the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Armed Forces, takes the salute.

Towards the closing, I really enjoy the stunts by the soldiers, vibrant displays and floats and traditionally culminting with a flypast by Indian Air Force jets, theNational Anthem, & release of balloons.
And, if one is staying in Delhi, and close to India Gate, they would definitely know about the "ikkees topon ki salaami" - that is - 21 Gun Salute - Gosh! I've heard it quite a few times!

Here's a video:


Ok!, on request, I am posting some pictures from yester-year's mesmerising illumination of the stunning Rashtrapati Bhavan (the palace the First Man/Lady of the country - the honourable President) at the Raisina Hill....

That's the Parliament House

P.S.:
How many of us actually remember even faintly the "pledge" that was taken in, or even the significance of the same?
Well, this is for my friend's little cousin who was supposed to prepare a speech on "Republic Day", and found it quite a boring task, but was excited enough when I showed them some parade videos from youtube, and the story/significance behind the capped rifle!

I was surprised when he and his friend agreed to leave-aside their playstations and xboxs :D atleast for the first half of the 26th of January 2009, and sit and watch through the entire parade, and then prepare for their competition!

After all, there is no comparison to the real-life heroes of the Indian Army to any of the "dhishoom-dhishoom" fake stunt-sters in their games:D - or maybe as I assume on their behalf! Lolz :D
Whatever :)
Jai Hind!