Indians today, seldom come across as proud people.
Well, we have had a glorious past. So what? We have moved on. Because, the reality is NOW!
Centuries of invasions have made us a subservient lot. Today, even while we travel across the seas and achieve great feats, we are "mostly" modest (I mean, we just can't do the bragging thing!)
However, there are two days in a year (Republic Day and Independence Day), when the spirit of oneness sweeps across this large country (though only momentarily)!
For once, we forget about our every day existence and swell with pride for being part of this great legacy called India.
As children, January 26th meant, watching the Republic Day parade in the National channel, if we were lucky enough to have a television. If not, even better. We congregated at the neighbour's houses which had one and enjoyed the different shows put up by the republic day parade participants.
For some, it was even better. For three years in a row, as part of the National Scouts and Guides movement, a bunch of us had the opportunity to represent our region for the State republic parade across that long beautiful stretch of the Marina beach in Chennai. This meant, almost a month of practice at around 5:30 am in the morning along the Marina.
But we barely felt any physical stress because getting rid of those boring classes in school, for half a day was a lot more fun J
Many years hence, a quick look at how Republic Day was celebrated around me, here in Bangalore.
Couple of bangalorean schools have their Sports day around this timeframe. The kindergarteners of Bishop Cotton Boys School, Bangalore, celebrated the Republic Day week with their Annual Sports event.
Oh yes, these kindergarteners have their own little band leader leading the overall school band :)
On the Republic Day, I headed to the Freedom Park in Bangalore, more popular only after Anna Hazare’s India Against Corruption protest, held here.
The Freedom Park was originally a Central Jail built during 1866 when the British wanted more and more jails to accommodate the rising number of self sacrificing freedom fighters.
Today, this Freedom park serves as a beautiful multi-use urban park with a state-of-the-art information corridor, cultural and leisure joints, children play areas, light and sound shows etc.
However architect couple Soumitro Ghosh and Nisha Mathew Ghosh, who designed this structure, have ensured that the historical features of this place (such as the Watch Tower for the prison guards as well as the Prison main entrance) were kept.
In keeping with its history, this park was built to provide dedicated space for holding protests and rallies.
Another interesting event during this time, is the Scooter Rally organized by a couple of enthusiasts, at the Bangalore Cubbon Park. What a better day to celebrate everything that is vintage! Some clicks from this event….
And ofcourse, though I have often repeated myself, no Republic day is complete, if you are in Bangalore and do not catch the flower show in Lalbagh, which saw ~2,00,000 people on this day.
This year's star attraction was the Buddha, amidst the backdrop of beautiful flowers.
Hmm..well, yeah...maybe we should get some Pride :)
Well, we have had a glorious past. So what? We have moved on. Because, the reality is NOW!
Centuries of invasions have made us a subservient lot. Today, even while we travel across the seas and achieve great feats, we are "mostly" modest (I mean, we just can't do the bragging thing!)
However, there are two days in a year (Republic Day and Independence Day), when the spirit of oneness sweeps across this large country (though only momentarily)!
For once, we forget about our every day existence and swell with pride for being part of this great legacy called India.
As children, January 26th meant, watching the Republic Day parade in the National channel, if we were lucky enough to have a television. If not, even better. We congregated at the neighbour's houses which had one and enjoyed the different shows put up by the republic day parade participants.
For some, it was even better. For three years in a row, as part of the National Scouts and Guides movement, a bunch of us had the opportunity to represent our region for the State republic parade across that long beautiful stretch of the Marina beach in Chennai. This meant, almost a month of practice at around 5:30 am in the morning along the Marina.
But we barely felt any physical stress because getting rid of those boring classes in school, for half a day was a lot more fun J
Many years hence, a quick look at how Republic Day was celebrated around me, here in Bangalore.
Couple of bangalorean schools have their Sports day around this timeframe. The kindergarteners of Bishop Cotton Boys School, Bangalore, celebrated the Republic Day week with their Annual Sports event.
Oh yes, these kindergarteners have their own little band leader leading the overall school band :)
On the Republic Day, I headed to the Freedom Park in Bangalore, more popular only after Anna Hazare’s India Against Corruption protest, held here.
The Freedom Park was originally a Central Jail built during 1866 when the British wanted more and more jails to accommodate the rising number of self sacrificing freedom fighters.
Today, this Freedom park serves as a beautiful multi-use urban park with a state-of-the-art information corridor, cultural and leisure joints, children play areas, light and sound shows etc.
However architect couple Soumitro Ghosh and Nisha Mathew Ghosh, who designed this structure, have ensured that the historical features of this place (such as the Watch Tower for the prison guards as well as the Prison main entrance) were kept.
In keeping with its history, this park was built to provide dedicated space for holding protests and rallies.
Another interesting event during this time, is the Scooter Rally organized by a couple of enthusiasts, at the Bangalore Cubbon Park. What a better day to celebrate everything that is vintage! Some clicks from this event….
And ofcourse, though I have often repeated myself, no Republic day is complete, if you are in Bangalore and do not catch the flower show in Lalbagh, which saw ~2,00,000 people on this day.
This year's star attraction was the Buddha, amidst the backdrop of beautiful flowers.
Hmm..well, yeah...maybe we should get some Pride :)
2 comments:
Super clicks Sujatha. And I see those beautiful background blurs coming on some images. Did you change your camera or just changed the technique?
Btw, agree on the pride part. How did you manage to get so much on a single day?
Thanks a lot, Ajith..camera is the same...just got the distances right i guess.....and i clicked the pics over 3 days....lalbagh flower show runs for a week during republic day and independence day...so went thr on 23rd....Did freedom park n cubbon park on 26th n the sports day event over the weekend.....:-)
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