Celebrating I-Day with a difference

BANGALORE, Aug 17: If Bangalore celebrated the start of India8217;s Golden Jubilee by offering free haircuts last year, the close of the celebrations were as hair-raising as they were varied.

Feats such as scaling the Public Utility building on M G Road 8212; which is something of a ritual every year 8212; was observed, except that it was performed by girls. In place of a climb to the top, it was a climb down.

Equally attention-drawing was a marathon walk through the city by a single person he did not stop even to give his name. Dressed in khadi, the man held the tricolour high throughout the silent marathon. A placard hung around his neck read: 8220;I am walking for national integration and world peace8221;. With even the papaya-seller at Shivajinagar pitching a plastic national flag on his push-cart, the Independence fever could be seen as reaching the grass-roots. Automobiles, including the Hoysalas8217;, flew the little plastic imitations on their dashboards. Youth organisations across the city organisedblood-donation camps. The Electronics division of the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited BHEL even had Gandhi8221; gracing its Independence Day celebrations. An old man covered in silver white paint was paid to look like the Mahatma during the function.