Google dedicates doodle to Independence Day

Google dedicated a doodle showcasing patchwork of Indian culture, values and progress, on the 73rd Independence Day.

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Designed by Copenhagen-based artist Shaivalini Kumar, the doodle depicts traditional motifs from Indian textiles evoking the complex yet harmonious patchwork of the Indian culture, ranging from education to arts, to courage and compassion.

The doodle shows the Parliament House, ISRO's Mars mission, Metro, railways, the iconic auto-rickshaw, and basic education through writing with a chalk et cetera.

"I wanted to depict the Indian patchwork of core values, beliefs, and strengths for this concept. We represent our freedom and independence by depicting democracy, growth in science, growing infrastructure, striving for education, compassion (the hands), strength and courage (tiger), purity (lotus), and progress (decriminalising homosexuality)," Kumar said.

She said these are some of India's many steps towards growth and progress.

Interspersed with these symbols of progress are traditional Indian motifs from textiles creating a unique patchwork.

"This complex yet harmonious patchwork is representative of India's freedom and independence, celebrating the essence of what I believe is quintessentially Indian — the surprising and wonderful co-existence of several opposing forces, ideologies, religions and cultures," she added.

The search engine giant said on this day in 1947, one of the world's oldest and most ethnically diverse civilizations became a sovereign nation, free from the British rule.

"The subcontinent marks the occasion in various ways — from patriotic kite-flying to Amritsar's 'beating retreat' ceremony — no site is more historically significant than Lahori Gate at the Red Fort in Delhi, where then Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru first addressed the newly independent nation," it added.