Silken strums on sarod, sweet notes of flute, enlightening vocal recitals and poetry resonated in the Central Hall of Parliament as the 60th commemoration of the country’s Independence peaked on Wednesday evening in the national capital.

So mesmerised was the audience of politicians, bureaucrats, diplomats and other distinguished personalities that the almost two-hour-long function seemed to pass in a flash and left everyone in the packed chamber thirsting for more.

If sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan and his sons Ayan and Aman tugged at the heartstrings with their moving rendition of two of Mahatma Gandhi's favourite bhajans, lyricist Javed Akhtar reminded the world of the greatness that was India, while eminent classical vocalist Jasraj held the audience spellbound with a combination of religious hymns and patriotic songs.

The event was beamed live across the nation by Doordarshan.

The evening began with President Pratibha Patel arriving in state, accompanied by Vice-President Mohammed Hamid Ansari, who is also the chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee.

Trumpeters announced their arrival as they transited from the red carpet on the corridor leading to the Central Hall to the green wall-to-wall carpet of the chamber and took their seats on the flower-bedecked dais. Gazing down at them was a portrait of a benign Mahatma Gandhi.

After the national anthem was played, Amjad and his sons took their places on a low stage erected to the left of the main dais, quickly tuning their instruments and launching into the Vaishnav Jana to and Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram bhajans that are so closely identified with the Father of the Nation.

It was a performance that created an ambience of peace and tranquillity.

Akhtar then came up to recite “15 Agast” (15 August) that, as he put it, “has been composed not only for this day, but for this place also”.

The ode
We have removed a blemish from our forehead/If people ask what we have achieved in 60 years of freedom/Let them come and see that the seed of democracy we planted has grown into a huge banyan/Let our caravan not falter on any score - that was the sense of the poem.

Akhtar’s wife, noted actor Shabana Azmi, then read out the English version of the work to huge applause from the audience.

It was then the turn of Jasraj, who began with an Allah/Om inter-religious invocation and followed this up with Andheri raat mein suraj (The sun rose at midnight), an Akhtar composition set to music by the singer's son Sharang Dev, and the Vandemataram national song.

There couldn't have been a more perfect blend of lyrics and classical melody.

The audience, and particularly Chatterjee, were not willing to let Jasraj go in a hurry and in response to a request from the Lok Sabha speaker, he agreed to an encore. But before that, he dropped a poignant bombshell of sorts.

“Since I’m here, I might as well perform here. I might not be around at the next anniversary,” he said.
This was in continuation to what he had said before beginning his performance: “I sang at the 50th anniversary celebrations (of independence). It's a great honour to perform at the diamond jubilee.”

Jasraj’s encore was the “Om namo bhagawata vasudevay” religious chant.

A documentary produced by Lok Sabha TV on 60 years of Independence was then screened, followed by speeches by Chatterjee, Manmohan Singh, Ansari and Patil.

“I would like to see an India of greater equality, an India less argumentative and more cooperative, an India that works hard with a sense of purpose and devotion,” the prime minister said during his address, prompting Shabana Azmi to lean over and whisper something to CPM leader Sitaram Yechury.

At this, Manmohan Singh’s wife Gursharan Kaur turned to Yechury, pointed her finger at him and said: “That was for you”, in an apparent reference to the hard time the Left is giving the government on the India-US civilian nuclear deal.

Pratibha Patil’s husband Devisingh Shekhawat, The vice-president's wife Salma Ansari, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Leader of the Opposition L K Advani were among the large number of people who attended the function.