Report by Ananya Singh
Beating the Retreat Ceremony (or Beating Retreat) takes place each year on the 29th of January at Vijay Chowk, Delhi and marks the end of the Republic Day festivities.
This ceremony originally used to take place at the end of a day’s battle, signaling to the soldiers that they were not to fight anymore.
Everyone used to stand still during the ceremony. The same has been followed till today as well.
This year, the Beating the Retreat Ceremony was attended by the President and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, Defense Minister Shri Rajnath Singh, Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane, Navy chief Admiral R. Hari Kumar, Air Force Chief Air Marshal V. R. Chaudhari, and other important officials.
14 buglers, 16 trumpeters, and 75 drummers participated in the event this year, with tunes like ‘Hey Kanchha’, ‘Channa Bilauri’, ‘Jai Janam Bhumi’, ‘Nritya Sarita’, ‘Vijay Josh’, ‘Kesaria Banna’, ‘Veer Siachen’, ‘Hathroi’, ‘Vijay Ghosh’, ‘Ladaakoo’, ‘Swadeshi’, ‘Amar Chattan’, ‘Golden Arrows’ and ‘Swarn Jayanti’ being played.
The song, ‘Ae mere watan ke logo’ sung by Lata Mangeshkar was a new addition, replacing ‘Abide by me’ this year. The ceremony culminated with the song ‘Sare Jahan se Accha’. A total of 26 songs were played throughout the celebration.
Another highlight of the celebration was the ten-minute drone show put-up by 1000 drones fabricating various formations in the sky, coordinated with the background music. The show was a ‘Make in India’ initiative by Botlab Dynamics, supported by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi. A three-four minute projection mapping show also took place and was showcased on the walls of the North and South Block before the ceremony began.
All images from Twitter of @narendramodi
