About Independence Day Flag Hoisting
There was something different about Independence Day in school. The morning was cold. The grass was wet with dew. Your shoes were probably already a little damp. Everyone stood in lines on the school ground, uniforms neat, tiny flags in hand, waiting for the ceremony to begin. Teachers were everywhere. The principal was on the stage. There were dignitaries you didn’t quite understand the importance of yet. Then the flag went up. Everyone stood still. The songs began. You knew India was your country. You knew this day mattered. You knew people had fought for it. But you were still too young to understand the weight of any of that. You just knew that something about those songs, that flag and that grey August morning made you feel incredibly proud to be here. For a few minutes, the school ground felt bigger than school. You understood the feeling before you understood the history.
16 tracks in this memory — voices like Manna Dey, A.R. Rahman, Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi, Mahalaxmi Iyer, Asha Bhosle, Chorus, and others.