Memories of Beating the Retreat

A few days back, while listening to a Western Classical channel, they played the " Abide with me" hymn on it. And rekindled memories past of our very own Beating the retreat ceremony held every year three days after the Pomp and grandeur of the Republic day parade.

I always preferred this one to the 26th Jan celebrations and those days Doordarshan to used to telecast it live. I used to be amazed at the mastery of our Indian Forces bands (Army , Navy and Airforce) in varied tunes and what perfection they had .Especially the drummers solo, where all the drummers from the different bands used to come together and perform. It was a lovely and solemn display, this ceremony.
But the most poingnant moment of the whole ceremony , was right at dusk ( around6.00Pm) , when after all the bands had finished playing, a lone bugler used to play a soul stirring tune( cannot recall ) , followed by the whole band( all the particpants) playing the Abide With me tune. Goosebumps used to cover my skin everytime I hear them play this ,its so moving. And as they played the last refrains, there used to be church bells chiming in tune from somewhere. The whole scene fills you with a sense of spiritualism similar to what we feel when going to temples.
For the grand finale, the whole road, Rashtrapathi Bahavan and the parliament house all lit up in thousands of little lamps. Simply out of this world.
I do think the song sums it up so well " Sare jahan se acha, hindustan hamara" ......

I do wish to see this in person some day hopefully.
Do they still telecast this live on TV? I searched in vain on you tube to see if someone had uploaded this . Hope fully this year........

For those who want to listen to the Abide with me Hymn, here is a clip from You tube:
Abide With me