Did you salute today?

Wow…felt great today! After ages, I had a good hectic day (this time not because of office work)

It was 26th of January 2009, my cell phone suddenly started buzzing at 5 am and I was quick to realize that it was the alarm and the message read ‘Wake up, you lazy ass!!!’ I quickly got ready and loaded myself with all the motor biking gear.

On the eve of this day, I and my very good friend had planned to visit his native place the next day; the sole reason, witness the flag hoisting ceremony at his school.

Ashtapur is about 25-30 kms from Pune towards Ahmednagar. Sachin Kotwal alias Sachin Bhosale of my closest friends claims that, he is among the descendants of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. I believe you my friend but, not until you make your second name completely official.

So we set out for a cool ride. Man, mercury kept on dipping and we were literally shivering. Finally, we made it to the ‘New English School’.

All the students were neatly dressed in their uniform and the teachers made sure that they were obeying the orders of the leader on stage. It was 8 am and the school got into some serious business. Time to hoist the flag!!! A respectable elderly person came forward and did the rituals. Every one on the ground was meditating and the point of concentration being the tricolor. The leader on stage then commanded to sing the national anthem and we all got completely engrossed in chanting the hymn; all minds sharing a common thought ‘devotion to our motherland’. While the chanting was in progress, this busy area came to a ‘standstill’. The pedestrians too showed respect and stood as if they were frozen because of the chilling weather.

This was followed by dance performances by few enthusiastic school students and every one cheered with as much enthusiasm and the program came to an end. There was not a single moment where the focus was deviated from the core subject of patriotism.

I would love to hear your experiences, on this day.

Jai Hind!!!
Sagar