TELEVISTA
Parade of patriotism
AMITA MALIK

It is that time of the year, even more than August 15, when national fervour is at its peak. The weather is kinder, there is the spectacular Republic Day parade, there is a new foreign chief guest and civilian and military awards are presented on screen. Having watched the parade at least a dozen times live in the course of duty and the other years like this one on television, I must confess that the military part of it does not really interest me. The foreign chief guest is always interesting and this year the French chief guest, Sarkozy, ever-smiling even in the absence of Carla, was one of the most likeable.

Then that poignant moment when the posthumous awards for military gallantry are presented on Rajpath by the President to proud fathers, young widows or children. To add to the poignancy, young Capt Choudhury died in combat the day after his award was announced. One watched with increasing sympathy his proud father first being interviewed about his son’s award and in a few hours in tears over his son’s death. Such is life in the defence services.

Then, of course, all the Padma awards being announced with triumph or envy depending on who won, the usual accusations about loyalists of the party being rewarded, but as I said, the usual routine. In the parade I always enjoy the camel corps and, to a limited extent, the children, although I pity them for getting up at an ungodly hour and braving the cold. Only sometimes do the floats seem really original and imaginative but some of the ideas are so contrived as to be bizarre. Incidentally, with such tight security and endless traffic jams due to the closure of vital connecting roads also for security reasons, one feels grateful for TV which saves one the torture.

This year both the Australian Tennis Open and the cricket Test coincided with Republic Day, as indeed did Australia’s national day and it was cheering to find the Indian cricket team singing Jana Gana Mana with gusto although one fussy reporter made the camera focus on one player who kept on ruffling his hair into place instead of standing at attention. Of such carping moments are reports made.

It is also an occasion for announcing the Indians of the year by more than one channel and I enjoyed the moment when the Prime Minister was asked if he had seen any Shahrukh Khan film. He said he had seen just one the day before, but when asked to name it, he gave an apologetic smile as he literally scratched his forehead to stimulate remembrance.

There was a timely discussion on nationalism on NDTV which also involved, naturally, the National Flag and the National Anthem. While one eminent lawyer described us as a nation of hypocrites, references were also made to the alleged insult of the National Flag by such celebrities as Sania Mirza and Sachin Tendulkar, both of whom had cases brought against them by super patriotic critics. The last word came from an elderly member of the audience who followed many young participants who had said that we attach too much importance to such symbols even when the people who are criticised have demonstrated their love and pride for India in their public performances.

The elderly gentleman said, rather wisely, that India is too great a country to bother about such criticism. I think he was right. One young girl said she stood up for the National Anthem only because her mother insisted on it but she said she would love India dearly even if she forgot to do so, a point echoed by many other youngsters in the audience.

One weary elderly gentleman said after earlier standing up for God Save the King at the cinema, since the audience had a message flashed on the screen saying please stand up for the National Anthem, he was only too happy to stand up unasked for Jana Gana Mana. All the elderly people in the audience nodded their heads in assent.

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