The Hindu : Front Page : Bands, pipes, cymbals, and applause

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Wednesday, Jan 30, 2008
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Bands, pipes, cymbals, and applause

Kunal Diwan

Beating Retreat marks end of Republic Day festivities

— Photo: Sandeep Saxena

Sight for the Gods: Bands putting up a scintillating performance during the Beating Retreat in New Delhi on Tuesday.

NEW DELHI: Marking the end of the Republic Day festivities, the Beating Retreat ceremony at Vijay Chowk here on Tuesday was an identity-defining experience for most viewers with the President, the Prime Minister and the Services Chiefs serving as symbolic reminders of the magnitude of the democratic process in this country.

Seated within a bullet-proof enclosure at the epicentre of the proceedings and flanked by the three Chiefs of the Armed Forces, President Pratibha Patil graced the Military Bands with her audience, even as thousands of spectators cheered the marching musicians. Not a part of the usual Beating Retreat security protocol, the bullet-proof enclosure was constructed in a marked hurry after Rashtrapati Bhavan officials let known that the President would require some shielding from the ravages of the mounting cold wave.

The festivities started with buglers sounding the first notes from elevated points on the North and South Blocks. And then came the ceremonial bands, thumping on the bass-drum, rattling the snares and crashing the cymbals in euphoric celebration. The pipes, no less, matched the percussion, complementing the beats with notes expelled from the very breath of their lives. Among the bands that performed were the Artillery Centres from Nashik and Hyderabad, the Air Defence Artillery, the Punjab, Jat and Garhwal Regiments and the 58 Gorkha Training Centre.

With a gusto that matched their battlefield verve, the percussionists launched a pulsating “Drums Call” that drove shudders through the ground and extracted rapturous applause from the crowd.

As the evening progressed and camel-borne guards atop the South Block appeared no more than stark silhouettes against a darkening sky, an elderly gentleman in the visitors’ section continued a running commentary of the proceedings.

“I should know,” he said, “I have been coming here for the past 26 years.”

Even as the mesmerising sound of bells wafted from a distant corner and the national flag fluttered in the cold breeze, the President acquiesced to the polite enquiry of the Principal Conductor to withdraw his bands, marking the official end to the Republic Day festivities.

As if on cue, the imposing architecture of the North and South Blocks and the Parliament House lit up in a blaze of incandescence. Even for those not given to abject displays of jingoism, there are times when experiences assume a surreal quality and drive in a sense of nationalistic belonging. The Beating Retreat ceremony was one such occasion.

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