[gallery td_gallery_title_input="Indians celebrate Republic Day with patriotic fervor" size="full" td_select_gallery_slide="slide" ids="115544,115607,115608,115609,115610,115545,115546"] THE 68th Republic Day of India was celebrated with fervor in Indian missions and schools around the Kingdom. In Riyadh, Ambassador Ahmad Javed hoisted the national flag followed by rendition of national anthem and patriotic songs by the students of the International Indian School in Riyadh. Students of the school also presented several colorful cultural performances. Ambassador Javed read out President Pranab Mukherjee's message to the gathering of over 550 members of Indian community, friends of India and officials of the mission. In Jeddah, a colorful ceremony was held on the premises of the consulate. Consul General Md. Noor Rahman Sheikh hoisted the national flag. The flag hoisting was followed by the singing of the national anthem and reading of the president's address to the nation. A large number of Indian nationals attended the function. Indian community members and friends of India were invited to the ceremony. Children from the International Indian School, Jeddah, sang patriotic songs and enchanted the audience. About 700 people attended the function. The consul general then arrived at the IISJ premises to preside over the ceremony. After hoisting the Indian flag and the rendition of the national anthem, Sheikh read out Mukherjee's message on the occasion to the goodly crowd and the children assembled. Reading out Mukherjee's address to the nation, Sheikh began with the president's tribute to the brave soldiers and security personnel who made the supreme sacrifice of their lives in defending India's territorial integrity and maintaining law and order. He also recollected the president's words on how the "Indian people gave to themselves a constitution to secure for all its citizens, justice, liberty, equality, and gender and economic equity. We promised to promote fraternity, dignity of the individual, and unity and integrity of the nation." The message continued, "On that day, we became the largest democracy of the world. The faith and commitment of people gave life to our Constitution and our founding fathers, wisely and carefully, steered the new nation past its troubles of being a poor economy with huge regional imbalances and a vast citizenry deprived of even basic necessities. "It goes to the credit of the strong institutions of democracy built by our founders that for the last six and a half decades, Indian democracy has been an oasis of stability in the region troubled by unrest.... "What has brought us thus far will take us further ahead. But we will have to learn to adjust our sails, quickly and deftly, to the winds of change. Evolutionary and incremental growth will have to accommodate rapid disruptions brought in by advances of science and technology. Innovation, more so inclusive innovation, will have to become a way of life. Education will have to keep pace with technology." The president's message rounded off with the homily: "In a fiercely competitive world, we have to work harder than ever to redeem the promises that we make to our people." The ceremony then saw the IISJ children of various blocks presenting a series of drill displays and singing patriotic songs with the curtain being rung down on the function with a tableau of Glimpses From Our Freedom Struggle. A synchronized display by the IISJ marching band of music and precision that saw them float some elaborate patterns to the beats of music heralded a series of items. This was followed by a medley of patriotic songs (mere mulk, mere watan; chodo ghar ke baaten; Yeh desh hum nau jawano kha and saare jahan se acha yeh Hindustan hamara) from VII-VIII boys. The real scene-stealers were the tiny tots from the I-II block (girls) with their coordinated movements in the drill display. The dress allotted to the girls represented the VIBGYOR in a rainbow to highlight ‘unity in diversity' in a nation boasting of varying cultures, and soon the children resembled a rainbow (Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red) before transforming into a flower. A patriotic song by girls from VI to VIII blocks was followed by a drill by boys from the I-II blocks, who too showed some intricate formation — resembling a flower and a star — with the tricolor in the center rounding off the display.
