Sare jahan se acha Hindustan humara

Day: 16th Dec (coincides with one of the movies!!)
Venue: marina beach
Time: 1530 (IST)

For the first time in my life I was getting a VIP pass for some event. So I was very excited to be a part of this event. I had already received the VIP pass a couple of times in my dreams last night. The excitement of getting a VIP pass was a motivation good enough to wake me up by 9 (that too a sun morning!!). I just wanted to be seated in that special row as soon as possible. After a couple of calls it was decided that I will get my pass at around 1530 and the show was to start from 1630. Being an Indian from the core of my heart, I reached that place by 1550 (was actually glad that I was not much late). The sight of blue board with “NAVAL DISPLAY” brought a smile on our faces and finally I was handed my passes. We made ourselves comfortable in the “special front rows”.

Marina beach had a completely new look and we were awed to see this “clean, stink free, organized” beach with a hep crowd. And now we eagerly waited for the chief guest for the evening which would mark the start of the great evening. Surprisingly the chief guest “His Excellency, the governor of Tamil Nadu” (these words were repeated by the commentator umpteen times during that 30 mins) graced us by his presence sharp at 1630. We all stood up for the National Anthem and then suddenly I was filled with shame. I realized I was listening to it after 5-6 years and that I had forgotten a few words in between.

The display started by the formation of the great naval ships (there were some 8 of them). This show is a must for our Indian cricket commentators to know and learn what commentary is. The running commentary (both in English and Tamil) doubled the pleasure of this display. One by one the different INS (sorry, due to my pea sized brain I don’t remember the exact names) sailed with pride in front of us. And then the various sea warfare techniques like blowing up an oil rig, securing the beach head, were showed.

Marine commandos come in a Gemini and secure the beach of the enemies aided by covered attacks. The continuous firing by the commandos brought a chill in our spine but hardly did anyone of us know that this was nothing in comparison to what was to come.

We heard the words “look backwards” and we were taken aback to see four aircrafts come towards us. It was the Sagar Pawan Aerobatics team (only a few countries have such an aerobatics team). And during the next 20 mins everyone was on their toes turning left and right following the commentator’s “and left now” , “something on right”etc.At this moment I regreted my bunks from the march past practise which we used to have at school. Because everytime the commentator said "and here's something waiting for you in the left", I turned right ( & turned left when asked to turn right) and missed a few seconds of the fly. Thankfully people were awed by the aerobatics and no one had the time to notice me making a fool of myself!!The aircrafts performed breath taking aerobatics which included events like coming for head on collisions from opposite directions and turning just in the last minute, forming a heart (with a cupid’s arrow too!!) with its multicolored trailing fumes, sharp turns and a very low flying over us. They left the entire crowd mesmerized.

The fly past included the Indian Navy choppers like Chetak, Kamov, Dornier and IL76( the biggest of them). The STIE ( Short Team Insertion & Extraction) operation which is carried out to drop commandos to destroy the enemies and then rescue them, was equally fascinating.



All this while I longed to hear my bhaiya’s name from the commentator; wish he was also here.Finally towards the end of the Display, the Navy Band marched in front of the dais in unison and played some marching tunes. The Navy flag was then slowly pulled down and the the band marched back playing the popular martial tune "Saare Jahan Se Achcha". This was followed by the illumination (lighting up of all ships) and the fireworks which is used to attract the crowd’s attention while the chief guest and other VIPs leave.

Thus ended my most happening evening in Chennai. Special thanks to my bhaiya Lt Cdr Praveen Kr Sinha. It was a great change from my dull and boring evenings here and I enjoyed every second of it. And above all it gave me something to write upon too!!

P.S: I tried my level best to present this special event but due to my short term memory and incapability to remember names and minute details, I could not do justice to this great and memorable evening.