At midnight on 14 August 1947, India became an independent nation. This was preceded by a speech by India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru: "At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance..... We end today a period of ill fortune, and India discovers herself again."

India's Independence Day is celebrated on August 15th to commemorate its independence from British rule and its birth as a sovereign nation.

On Saturday, in all of India's state capitals, flag hoisting ceremonies and cultural programs took place as they did at the SISP Centre in Kovalam. Our program started with a little 'military' parade of marching and saluting. School Head, Mrs Kumari, then hoisted the Indian Tricolour amid cheers and much flag waving from the children and staff. We then filed inside to be entertained by a program of dancing and singing from the children, followed by refreshments. Blackboards had been set up to show the children the significance of the occasion and illustrate India's future in the world, a future for which SISP is endeavouring to prepare our children.

In typical Indian fashion, there was national confusion about whether it was the 62nd or 63rd Independence Day. Our calculations are that it's the 62nd Anniversary of Independence Day, but even PM Manmohan Singh referred to it as the "63rd Independence Day"!

Clive

Kovalam, 18 June, 2009