How rural India celebrates Republic Day

It was Thursday and a bright sunny day. On the 68th Republic Day, I thought of observing things on this this big national day. As I left my house around 7am, I heard a loud voice while I was walking down my lane. First, I could not comprehend what all the clamour was about but I could only see a group of children dressed in white shirts and half pants marching in a line in the direction of the block chowk.

As I moved closer, I heard, Chandrashekhar Azad amar rahe, Khudiram Bose amar rahe, Pujya Bapu amar rahe, Aaj ka din 26th January, Gantantra Diwas manaiye, Ghar ghar jhanda fairaiye, Bhagat Singh amar rahe, Subhash Chandra Bose amar rahe (Long live Chandrashekhar, Long live Khudiram Bose, Long live Bapu, celebrate Republic Day, hoist flag in your house, Long live Bhagat Singh, Long live Subhash Chandra Bose) These slogans were chanted on loudspeakers from an auto. The auto had banners which carried a message: ‘A Happy Congratulation to all of you….on the occasion of 26th January’. Below this message, the school’s name was displayed - New Bright Career English Medium School - and there were four portraits of Chandrashekhar Azad, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhash Chandra Bose.

The students were wearing white shirt and grey pant/ skirt with ties. Some wore slippers whereas some were wearing black shoes. The students were also wearing caps which were just having a rubber tied to their back and were painted in the Tricolor colours. Some students were also wearing a sash with Jai Hind and Mera Bharat Mahan (India is great) written on it. All students were looking enthusiastic and holding a national flag in their hands marching towards the block chowk. The shirt of every student was almost white and was looking new.

There were almost 300 students in this rally. In between the lines, there were few teachers who were supervising the students and continuously asking them to hold their flags up. While returning from block chowk, every kid was drained out and looked tired. After five minutes, I saw another rally coming towards the market, the slogans were almost the same but there were no loud speakers. There were four students in front, one girl and three boy dressed differently from the students behind them. One boy was dressed like Bhagat Singh with a black circular cap and a gun in his hand, another guy was dressed in white dhoti and white shawl as Bapu, third guy was dressed in Kurta and Pyajama with a white skull cap on his head resembling SC Bose, whereas the girl was dressed like Bharat Maa. The students were marching in two lines under the watch of their teachers. This rally went in the direction of market. As I was going in direction of the market, Arun Deo Vishwas crossed me on cycle, wearing a blue kurta and a dhoti with a white gamcha (all well ironed) on his shoulder. He shouted, kaise hai (how are you!), I said, ekdam thik hai, (I am fine) He said, ja rahe hai mathwa wahi humlog ka jhanda fairaya ja raha hai, (I am going to Mathawa, our flag hoisting will take place there). He represents his wife who is the elected Sarpnach of the panchayat. He didn’t stop cycling while talking to me.

Around 8:40am, I was greeted by Raju ji. He was wearing a T-shirt and a pair of trousers. He said, kaha ja rahe, (Where are you going?) I said, kahin nahi socha aaj dekhe Bhargama Gantantara Diwas kaise manata hai, (Nowhere, I thought let me see how Bhargama celebrates the Republic Day) He said, chalye aapko Jandtolan dikhate hai, do jagah toh jayenge, dono jagah chalye aap humare sath, (Come with me I will show you flag hoisting, I will go to two places, you come with me there) I said, kaha, (Where) He said, ek jo computer centre hai block chowk pr waha, or uske baad woh school shiv mandir ke piche, (One at a Computer Centre at Block Chowk, another at the school, behind Shiv Mandir). I said, chalye, (Let’s go) He said, aise thori jayenge kapda toh pehen le kuch, (Not like this, let me wear some clothes) I said, pehne hue toh hai (You are already wearing), We laughed and he said, chaliye ghar chalye, (Come, let’s go!) While I was sitting in his, he asked his wife who was dressed in a new blue saree to leave home early. Today, I saw Raju ji, after a long time wearing a well ironed white shirt instead of T-shirt on regular days. We left the place around 9:15am. I saw almost 10 kids crossing us who were wearing new dresses. Chandrashekhar, a man in his mid 30s wearing a boxer and a vest offered us a lift on his bullet. He was going in the direction of Block Chowk.

When we reached the coaching institute, the flag was already hoisted. The Station Incharge of Bhargama Police Station, King Kundan, was standing near the flag. The head of the computer centre, Pramod Bharti, was wearing a new purple colour shirt with skin fitted jeans. All were standing in attention and a patriotic song, ‘Ae malik tere bande hum’ was being played on the sound system. Raju ji said, humko har baar bulata hai aur bolta hai chacha aap kabhi samay pr nahi aaye, lekin iss baar samay pr aa gaye hai ki nahi, (Pramod calls me every time and says that uncle you never come on time, see this time we are on time, no?). As the song ended, I saw King Kundan asking for leave from Pramod bharti. We then had snacks and sweets. Pramod was referring to it as prasad, this was a new thing for me. I asked why it is called prasad. Pramod said, “Bharat Maa ko chadhta hai na prasad, isliye kehte hai isko prasad (Pramod said that we offer these things to Bharat Maa, that is why this is called prasad). Around 10am, me and Raju and I went to New Age Bright Career English Medium School for its flag hoisting programme. Around 300 students had assembled in the ground with teachers and guardians. One could easily notice new paint on the bamboo walls. The walls and pillars were painted in the hues of the Tricolor. Every child was holding a flag in his hand. The principal cum director was convening the event, his name was Tapesh Kumar Roshan and was in his mid 30s. He requested Jay Kumar, the most senior teacher, to hoist the flag. This is a very different tradition from cities where only the Principal or Director hoists the flag. Later, the programme ended with recitation of Jan Gana Mana and people saluting the national flag. Elders and kids were singing along the National Anthem. The programme ended after people had prasad and Tapesh made an announcement that there would be a cultural programme in the evening and that everyone was invited. We left for home after that. Later in the evening, I went to attend the cultural programme.

A stage was created with a red sheet. A huge tent was erected using multi-colour sheets under which the audience sat. It looked almost 500-700 people had gathered to see the cultural programme. The cultural programme had various activities, such as elocution in English and Hindi, patriotic songs and dance etc. The children performed beautifully patriotic song Ae malik tere bande hum, followed by a bollywood song, Baby doll main sone di, and lastly on Ae dost mere laut aa. The dance accompanying the last song was loved by all.

It kept the audience so gripped that they were shaking their legs to the rhythm of the song. Later on, the kids were awarded with prizes for their performances. The people of the village gathered in huge numbers to witness the programme. When the dances were being performed, people were shaking their legs too, especially youths. According to the villagers, the crowd was normal on a day like this. They also said since not much happened in the village, there was so much enthusiasm among the people.