A touch of Indian, Bollywood and even Gujarati dandiya found its way into the traditional beats of bagpipes, drums, flutes and the pageantry of times gone by in the Beating Retreat ceremony at Vijay Chowk held against the backdrop of the majestic Rashtrapati Bhavan here on Thursday.
The beating retreat to symbolise the end of India’s 66{+t}{+h}Republic Day began at 5 p.m. by which time the Army, Navy and Air Force Chiefs had arrived followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, attired in a grey coat and waving to the crowd.
Meanwhile, bejewelled camels took their positions atop the ramparts of the South and North blocks. The distant sound of horses’ hooves started getting louder and the President’s entourage, including his 46 bodyguards mounted on brown and white horses, arrived. The flag was hoisted, the national anthem was sung and the beating retreat began with “fanfare” by buglers followed by the massed band playing Deshon ka Sartaj Bharat and the pipes and drums bands with their breathtaking formations and tartan uniforms.
Next up, were the navy and air-force bands in their blue and white uniforms. Their ‘fusion’ piece of “dashing desh ” and “flying star” stole the show and had the audience applauding. Elements of dance and familiar patriotic Bollywood tunes and dandiya made it the most popular piece.
The remaining military and massed bands concluded their performance with the ‘Abide with me’ performance by the massed band.
The national anthem was played and the tricolour lowered before the President’s bodyguards arrived again and exited with the President.
But there was more excitement for the audience yet. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, instead of going straight to his car, chose to walk around and wave at the audience, eliciting shrieks of delight.
As if to add to the excitement, the North and South blocks suddenly lit up with yellow light and a collective gasp broke out as the curtains fell on the entire show.
