Parade pride

Another Republic Day. Watched a bit of the parade on DD channel between cooking and other chores. Ash sat on his cycle and watched most of the parade with great interest. Once upon a time, when Doordarshan ruled our lives, we would all sit and patriotically watch the entire parade and glow with pride as Kerala's float (this year's float had Onam as the theme) went past. This year, I not-so-patriotically sat and chopped vegetables while the national anthem was played, flouting a basic rule taught in school - stand up with your head held high when the national anthem is sung.

I regret to say that I never attended the parade at India Gate on Republic Day or the more interesting Beating the Retreat 10 days later when I was in Delhi. I would rather curl up in bed than venture out in the January cold at 5 a.m. to take our positions at the public gallery before 7 a.m. The security concerns then meant that one had to walk the last leg of the trip to the venue - from Shahjahan Road, I think, to India Gate - which I didnt look forward to then. Nor could one carry even a bottle of water to the venue. The security must be tighter now.