A club in Chaltabagan in north Kolkata had ordered sweets and snacks for 25 people attending the flag hoisting ceremony on August 15. But more than 50 people came over.
A group of friends who went from Kolkata to Tajpur, a seaside town near Digha in Purba Medinipur district, unfurled the Tricolour with a bunch of residents.
The 75th Independence Day was celebrated with fervour. At most places, attendance was much more than usual, organisers said.
“We had many new faces this time,” said a member of Chaltabagan Sarbojanin club.
The morning was rainy and breezy. But the rain stopped by 10am.
Schoolchildren perform at the Independence Day parade on Red Road amid rain. Pradip Sanyal
At Urbana off EM Bypass, over 200 people had assembled for the flag hoisting, around 10.30am. “Around 7.30am, senior citizens of the housing society were at the forefront of a musical parade, singing patriotic songs. We had not expected such spontaneous participation,” said Kisor Kumar Nadhani, president of Urbana Welfare Association.
Arijit Bose, an emergency care specialist who was at the forefront of the I-Day celebrations in a housing on Dover Lane in south Kolkata, said he met many of his neighbours for the first time since Covid struck. “It was overwhelming to see so many residents turning up for the programme.”
A fancy dress competition was the highlight of I-Day celebrations at a school for underprivileged children in Chowbaga, a five-minute drive from the Ruby crossing.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee unfurls the Tricolour. Pictures by Pradip Sanyal
Kids from Nursery to Class V from nearby shanties in Tiljala in southeast Kolkata, a majority of them Muslims, make up a bulk of the students at the school, Kolkata Education and Charitable.
On Monday, the kids came dressed as Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose and Maulana Azad, among others.
Before the unfurling of the Tricolour, the children performed short plays themed on the unity in diversity that India is. “What they lack in terms of resources, they make up with excitement,” said Manzar Jameel, one of the patrons.
A group of friends from south Kolkata spent the Independence Day weekend in Tajpur near Digha. The friends were on their way to the beach on when they came across a local club arranging for a flag hoisting. “We stopped by and spent 20 minutes there. The flag was unfurled and the National Anthem was sung. It was a different experience,” said Sayan Sarkar, 37, part of the group.