Republic Day 2024

🇮🇳 Celebrating India’s 75th Republic Day. This weekend has been full of celebrations and flashbacks

Context: The Republic Day marks the day when the Constitution of India came into effect in 1950. This day transformed India into a newly formed republic and an independent country after getting its Independence on August 15, 1947. This year, Indian President Droupadi Murmu unfurled the Indian flag at a celebration in New Delhi along with French President Macron as the chief guest.  

From witnessing India's vibrant tapestry of military might and cultural kaleidoscope, beamed live from the Republic Day parade with French President Emmanuel Macron's presence beside PM Narendra Modi, to standing beneath the unfurling flag in Silicon Valley's beating heart, Sunnyvale, a torrent of memories swept me back, each one a vivid echo of the incredible journey.

• My earliest Republic day memories of waking up super early on 26th January & going with my dad over 4 decades ago as a 5 year old to watch the parade at Delhi’s RajPath

• One time our school had the opportunity to be selected as part of the Indian Republic Day parade contingent and we middle-school  teenagers practiced for over 3 months daily after school guided by an Indian Army veteran to get our marching rhythm correct! 

Back to the present, here’s what stood out for me this time:

• With this year’s theme being “Mother of Democracy”, there was a lot of emphasis on women artists, leaders, and achievers.

• For the first time, the Republic Day parade started with music played using Indian musical instruments by 100 women artists instead of the military band.

• This parade featured marching from an all-women contingent of 144 from the defense forces.

• Towards the end of the parade the Tableus from each state are always a visual treat. Being an applied AI Technologist, I was excited to see apart from 24 others, Ministry of IT showcasing  a Tableux with AI applied for healthcare, logistics and education for social empowerment as the theme. Per a govt of India report,  artificial intelligence is expected to add USD 967 billion to the Indian economy by 2035 and will  account for 10 percent of the country's $5 trillion GDP target by 2025.

• In the US, various organizations celebrate this special occasion throughout the country.  We are 5M+ Indian diaspora with 1 Million + in California itself. Out of those, youth are an important segment with 250K+ students in the U.S. ( 20K+ in California).  

• This year,  it was a celebration of India’s big bold vision — to become a developed country by 2047, marking 100 years of Independence.

•  It was also a celebration of how far things have come — in India and in the US - India corridor with rising bilateral trade, improving remittances  & foreign relations at its best ever and euphoria over the rise of India’s economy and stature in the world order over the next 25 years #AmritKaal

Thanks to Consulate General of India San Francisco team  led by  Consul General Dr.Srikar Reddy Koppula for organizing or being present at several such celebrations organized by various entities this weekend in the SF bay area. 

Here’s to India’s decade and to India’s century! Here’s to the U.S. - India corridor 🇺🇸 🇮🇳

Top Picture credit : I had the pleasure of meeting the Mayor Larry Klein & Vice Mayor of Sunnyvale  Murali Srinivasan and Fremont Vice Mayor Teresa Cox and other city officials, along with community members (Anita Kumari, Ritu Maheshwari , Neelaj Sharma,Vaneet Sharma,KP Maheshwari, Alka Bhatnagar and others ) at the flag hoisting and festivities organized by Dr Romesh Japra & FOG team.