Happy, healthy and harmonious living

By the way, I forgot to mention the celebrations on India's Independence Day.

15 August must be the only day of the year where people - young and old, and from different strata of society - come together to celebrate something.

Of course, weddings and other festivities bring people together too - but these tend to be socially-conscious celebrations.

The morning began with loudspeakers blaring patriotic songs from Hindi films. Even after decades of listening to these songs, they still generate a patriotic fervour.

My little girl was excited to see a tent pitched up in the park opposite our house. The same park where a small birthday picnic for her - earlier in the year - had caused hassles.

The tent was decorated with buntings in the Indian tricolour and the shrubs and trees all over the park had tricolour kites hanging to them. Inside, the cushioned chairs are arranged in neat rows in front of a stage.

It had rained the previous night, so the chairs were still wet. And strangely enough, the wettest chairs seemed to be those closest to the four pedestal fans. It was a tough choice, but the humid morning swung it in favour of chairs near the fan.

The programme started 15 minutes later than scheduled. Which is as good as starting on time. The opening remarks were followed by a "Cultural Function" - which involved children from the locality and those from charitable schools supported by its older residents of the locality.

Each new act was introduced with a lengthy tribute to the person "who has devoted all his energy and time on these not-so-fortunate children".

The grown-ups encouraged the acts with attention and applause, but the younger lot were distracted by Pepsi, Sprite, Fanta and other such things on the snack-counter. Even my daughter started feeling thirsty and needed a glass of Sprite urgently.

With the thirst taken care of, the kids rushed to grab the kites so neatly arranged around the park.

The brave performers, though, carried on - singing songs of national pride and dancing like the brave warriors of India's independence struggle.

Soon it was time for the speeches. Sometimes, I wonder what do these old, retired people do on the other 364 days of the year. Do they practice their speech? Or fine-tuning it? Whatever be the case, the quality of speeches hasn't improved in all the years that I have participated in such festivities.

The head of the organising committee said it was a special Independence Day, as the local Residents' Welfare Association had invited the President of its arch-rival, Residents' Housing Society, to be the chief guest.

"This is the first time in the history of our two societies that such a thing has happened. And I am so proud of this achievement.

"Before we ask the wider society and nation to live in harmony, we must bury our differences and live in harmony with the residents of this housing society".

He then went on to list all the good work that his group had done to make the locality a sought-after address in Delhi.

The Chief Guest, too, was gracious. His simple message to the residents was "Happy, healthy and harmonious living for all residents of this locality".

Both sides joined hands to unfurl the Indian tricolour, let loose the rose petals, and sing the national anthem.

The kids, meanwhile, were busy improving their collection of tricolour kites. And if it needed a nudge or a push, they were more than willing to do it.

It was only the promise of a meal-box that got them back to the tent. The box had samosa, kachori, sandwich and gulab jamun in it.