Saturday, January 26, 2013

Republic Day

January 26 is Republic Day here in India. It commemorates the day in 1950 that the Indian constitution went into effect, and India officially became a republic. I didn't know this until today, when we went to lunch at Prakruthi and discovered this lovely shrine to the three men who played the most important roles in creating the moden nation of India: Nehru, Gandhi, and Ambedkar.


That's a flag pole in the middle there. I couldn't fit the flag and the shrine in the same frame! There was also a lovely India flag made of flowers on the ground in front of the shrine.



When we arrived at Prakruthi I was distracted and did not notice the shrine or flag right away. In fact, I only noticed them when I stepped on the flag. Yep. It was the most embarrassing thing I've done in the nearly two months we've been here! Thankfully the lunch crowd hand't arrived yet, and the only person who saw me was one of the dish collectors. They're never particularly cheerful or friendly, but I sure felt like he was giving me the evil eye! And I couldn't really blame him. I quickly pushed the out of place flowers back and slunk away.

The out of places leaves in the green stripe are totally not my fault though. A security guard stepped on the flag after I did, which made me feel slightly less idiotic. The rest of the time we were there I didn't see anyone else step on it, though I did see several small children carefully avoiding it. Yeah, I'm still pretty hangdog! 

2 comments:

Jean | DelightfulRepast.com said...

Jovi, I always enjoy hearing from their proud grandmother what all Zion and Liel have gotten up to. (Love the bat story!) On her advice, I started my reading of your blog at the beginning of your Indian adventure. All I can say is "Better you than me!" I don't think I could cope at all. Liel was so right when she said there was "too much people, too much cars and too much noise" (or something like that).

When the Beatles went to India (back in the day, before your time, etc, etc), Ringo took two suitcases -- one held his clothes, the other, his many cans of Heinz beans (apparently he had little confidence that the cuisine would agree with his delicate digestive system). Let's just say, I think Ringo and I could travel well together (though I do make Chicken Tikka Masala at home - you can find it on my blog). And I rather avoid going places where mosquito netting is needed. I suppose I'm something of a luxury traveler, must have my comforts.

But this IS a grand adventure - enjoy!

Jo said...

My ignorance, is showing here, but who is "Ambedkar"?
I sure understand about stepping on the flag! Hope you are over it now.:)