Politeness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Before 2 years I went to see Republican Day celebration at RAJPATH. I was very fortunate to witness an extravaganza.......Along with me Raju, Pranay and Ravi were there.

I managed the passes at 10:30PM on previous day (Thanks to my friend Chand, who is working in Army). On the Republic day I had to wake up at 4:45AM. But no regrets. We took a metro at 6AM from Sikanderpur Metro Station... On the day of Repulican day for security reason few of the metro station were closed so we had to get down 2 stations before the central Secretariat and walk from there.Finally we reached at the Rajpath around 8:15AM. Rajapath is the 1.5Km to 2KM road which connects Parliament to India Gate. Generally for Independence Day flag hosting will be at Red Fort and for Republican Day it will be at India Gate.

It was huge crowd..More than 30,000 people were there. Aunties with full make up on face as if they have come to wedding, Girls did not forgot to use perfume, patriotic old people- may be  they wanted to remember FREE INDIA, kids with their fathers...All age group people were there..Long queues for security check, with lot of chaos for finding empty seat, but thanks to security people who were helping everybody... Finally Me and Ravi found a seat which was used by birds as a restroom…Its color has been changed from green to whitish…We heard two girls saying in typical tone, "eeee what a dirty place..". Me and Ravi saw each other , laughed and sat there..   

It was fully patriotic scene (atleast on 15^th August and 26^th January Indians become patriotic).

The day started with Presidents arrival on RAJAPATH. She came in black color Meredeze. Windows of car were transparent, so one can see her very easily. First time in my life I saw India's president live. The distance between my seat location and her car was not more than 5 meters. She was waiving hand to audience. It was one of the great moments for me (Frankly I have a very less respect to Pratibhatai Patil. But I have to respect her, as she was our president. I would have loved and bowed if APJ Kalam would have been in her place). Her car was followed by Prime Minister Manmohan Sigh’s Car (who was waiving hand like a programmed robot is moving his body parts like digital clock. May be Sonia Gandhi told him to do the same way…)  and which was followed by Indonesian Prime Minister, who was a guest.

It was time to hoist the flag at India gate. I could not see as it was around 1 KM away from the place where we were sitting. (They could have installed big screens, so that the people who are sitting at the other end of RAJPATH can witness that. Sometime Indians will invest money on big award ceremonies like Zee awards, Apsara awards, Zalak dikhalaja etc. But they can’t spend money on such national festival.).

After that real fun started, the march of our brave soldiers for which everybody was eagerly waiting. Gorkha Rifles, Jat Rifles, Maratha Rifles, Rajputana Rifles, Punjab Rifles, Asaam Rifles etc. I don’t have words to explain their march. I told to Ravi that some time operating System in computer also will fail to synchronize processes, but those soldiers can’t. Their walking style, dressing sense, discipline was awesome. After seeing this nobody has to tell you, that guys it is time to solute them. Automatically my hands went up and words came, "Hats off to you guys. You guys deserve this. We all Indians must bow infront you". You are there on the border that’s we are here…..It was followed bye the Horse and Camel marching. 

      
After this Indian defense power was coming on Rajpath. The defense equipment, which we have powered. Bramhose, Tejas, Mig25, Indian Radars etc. It ended with Airforce exercise.. that was just highlight. (It was ok not bad. I had seen Aero show in Bangalore. I saw Germal eurofighter, Mig 21 etc. So felt today’s airshow was not so great.).With fighter planes they threw colours from the top and made Indian tricolour in the air..It was good to see.

     




   After that there was cultural highlight of each state. Delhis Lotus Temple, Kashimr' regular lifestyle, Kerlas classical dance followed by Marathi Lawani troup (folk dance) was walking on Rajapath and they were performing. Marathi nau wari saadi, matching blouse, ear ring, nose ring, ahhhhhhh........ I could not control myself myself... started shouting ...atlast .. "maza maharastra".....Good presentation of most of the state culture. 


 Like this RD celebration ended. But I was not feeling to go from there. Me and Ravi stayed there for some more time. Once again President and PM Manmohan Singh were going back towards Rastrapati Bhawan from India Gate. It was nice to see the robot live once again

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In childhood we used to see the Republican Day parade on television. It was a visual treat to see the RD celebration live.

Mobile and Camera  were not allowed there. So I could not catch them in snap. But sure those moments can be cherished throughout life.

One Joke at parliament Gate:

After RD celebration, I and Ravi just thought to walk towards that Rastrapati Bhawan from Rajapath. At the gate one security asked for identity card, I showed him PAN card.

He: "bhai mai ID card mang raha hun"

Me: Sir jee o PAN card hai na.

Security: O muze bhi pata hai. Tumahare pass ID card nahi hai kya.

He asked to Ravi.

Ravi: Sir DL chalega?

Security: Ha bilkul DL chalega. Tum andar Jao.

Me : Sir thoda adjust kar lo na...PAN card bhi to chalana chahiye.

Security: Dekho bhai isbaar chod raha hun. Agali bar ID card leke aana

Me: Sorry sir agali bar jarur le aunga.

He was so arrogant... Still I have utmost respect for him, He has his finger on trigger so I am safe and writing this blog. Sometime I feel that in Indian circumstances he has to be bit strict. We Indians have habit of not obeying to polite people…

The irony is PAN card was given by Indian government and that was not valid at Indian Parliament itself.

In the month of September 2012 I was in Berlin. History of world will not be completed if we remove Berlin from the book. It has witnessed World War 1, World War 2, cold war….loads of gunshot, lot of bombing, Crazy officers, overzealous soldiers…Cruelty of Hitler, innocence of civilians…. .Berlin wall which divided world again two part and was the indication of world war 3…. Fortunately it did not happen…   For 2 days I was living in the era of 1914 to 1990…..I was trying to save all the places in my memory and my brain was trying to match incidents(which I had read in history book) to the each corner of Berlin….It has historic touch to each road of lanes…

Parliament of Germany is a tourist attraction. They call it as Reichtag.

The notable thing is they allow seeing Parliament from inside to a tourist of any nationality. If anybody want to see Reichtag, they have to reserve the seat online one day prior. It is free of cost. Only the thing is one has to go through the strict security check. They have made sitting arrangement for tourists on first floor and tourist can see the proceeding of Parliament. There is only day in year, on which tourist can see Parliament from Ground floor also. On that day tourist can get the direct entry, it is not needed to reserve. I was fortunate to be in Berlin Reichtag on that day .

It was amazing for me, because in India for civilian, access to Parliament is till main gate only.

German Reichtag, It has its own charm itself. It was Sunday so there was holiday in Reichtag. There was bombing on this building in second world war it seems. Fortunately there was not so much destruction. Once we entered in the Reichtag, we saw that security guards and other people who were working there were welcoming by saying: Sir Welcome to Reichtag (with smile)….

It was allowed to roam anywhere inside Parliament, only sitting on any senators chair was restricted. I could not believe myself that I am in a Parliament of a Germany… I asked lot of questions to the security guys who were standing there. Like about Angela Morkel, Daily Proceeding of Parliament, European Union…. And even about the world wars also.. Trust me They were aware of lot of things….I was impressed….And they were so polite while telling all the details… I am sure most of tourist whoever visits Reichtag, they would ask the same question what I asked to them… They were so calm and even not a single line of irritation was there on their face…It was amazing to see their politeness..

We got a free souvenir from the officials…I would keep that with me forever….we asked so many questions to the official who were working there. While coming, one of the official asked:

Official: Sir if you don’t mind then could you please tell your nationality?

We: We are from India..

Official: Are you having nice time in Germany..

We: We had and having great time…

Official: Did you like Germany?

We: We not only liked Germany, but we loved Germany….

Official: Thanks for your compliment about Germany….

Ahhhhhhhhh…. We spent almost 3 hours there.. I came out of Parliament, with lot of memories and one big question…..What is the secret of their politeness………