<p><span class="italic">A thing of beauty is a joy forever </span>is an immortal poem by John Keats. It goes on to say that there are endless small beauties around us, which is a joy forever. <br />A cool breeze from the trees down <br />the road on a hot summer day, a mesmerising sunset at the end of a long, tiring day, a bird’s sweet chirping in the early dawn, the walk of a toddler, the blushing of a young girl, a broad smile on a wrinkled face and, of course, the uninhibited fluttering of our tricolour on top of a flagpole are sources of eternal joy, infusing cheers in an otherwise monotonous daily chore.</p>.<p>Fluttering Tricolour takes me down memory lane, to my visit to ‘Wagah Border’, a surface transit border gateway to neighbouring Pakistan.</p>.<p>Every evening the check post is shut for the day. The closing ceremony is a popular event with an associated march past, theatrics, and fanfare, drawing large crowds. At 418 feet height, the country’s tallest flagpole is the centre of attraction with its majestically fluttering tricolour rousing cheer, pride, respect, and melancholy in us.</p>.The art of self control.<p>Cheer, pride and respect are for the honour of being citizens of a great independent nation and melancholy for the sacrifices of our forefathers, who endured treachery and bullets from the British to gain independence.</p>.<p>Our present generation, born in a free nation, takes the sight of a fluttering tricolour for granted as a natural phenomenon, giving the entire credit for fluttering to the breeze. We are used to hoisting a flag in a period of peace and, of course, unaware of the pain, resilience, and sacrifice it takes to hoist a flag to flutter.</p>.<p>Bhagat Singh, Netaji, Gandhiji and lakhs of patriots dedicated themselves to the cause, and many of them paid the supreme sacrifice of one’s own life for the cause of unfurling our flag during the independence movement.</p>.<p>Today, it is the dedication and sacrifice of our brave soldiers at the border that has kept our flag flying high.</p>.<p>I came across a touching <br />caption in Jaisalmer War Museum which read, “Our flag does not fly because the wind moves it. It flies <br />with the last breath of each soldier who made the supreme sacrifice protecting it.”</p>
<p><span class="italic">A thing of beauty is a joy forever </span>is an immortal poem by John Keats. It goes on to say that there are endless small beauties around us, which is a joy forever. <br />A cool breeze from the trees down <br />the road on a hot summer day, a mesmerising sunset at the end of a long, tiring day, a bird’s sweet chirping in the early dawn, the walk of a toddler, the blushing of a young girl, a broad smile on a wrinkled face and, of course, the uninhibited fluttering of our tricolour on top of a flagpole are sources of eternal joy, infusing cheers in an otherwise monotonous daily chore.</p>.<p>Fluttering Tricolour takes me down memory lane, to my visit to ‘Wagah Border’, a surface transit border gateway to neighbouring Pakistan.</p>.<p>Every evening the check post is shut for the day. The closing ceremony is a popular event with an associated march past, theatrics, and fanfare, drawing large crowds. At 418 feet height, the country’s tallest flagpole is the centre of attraction with its majestically fluttering tricolour rousing cheer, pride, respect, and melancholy in us.</p>.The art of self control.<p>Cheer, pride and respect are for the honour of being citizens of a great independent nation and melancholy for the sacrifices of our forefathers, who endured treachery and bullets from the British to gain independence.</p>.<p>Our present generation, born in a free nation, takes the sight of a fluttering tricolour for granted as a natural phenomenon, giving the entire credit for fluttering to the breeze. We are used to hoisting a flag in a period of peace and, of course, unaware of the pain, resilience, and sacrifice it takes to hoist a flag to flutter.</p>.<p>Bhagat Singh, Netaji, Gandhiji and lakhs of patriots dedicated themselves to the cause, and many of them paid the supreme sacrifice of one’s own life for the cause of unfurling our flag during the independence movement.</p>.<p>Today, it is the dedication and sacrifice of our brave soldiers at the border that has kept our flag flying high.</p>.<p>I came across a touching <br />caption in Jaisalmer War Museum which read, “Our flag does not fly because the wind moves it. It flies <br />with the last breath of each soldier who made the supreme sacrifice protecting it.”</p>
