Srinagar: Bakshi Stadium in Srinagar witnessed a significant surge in attendance on Friday as crowds gathered to witness the Republic Day parade.
Unlike previous years, when there would be security-related restrictions on public movement and internet services would remain suspended, this year’s ceremony saw a departure from tradition as Divisional Commissioner Kashmir V K Bidhuri invited members of the public to attend the event, and they did in huge numbers.
Long queues of men and women were seen outside the stadium to witness the parade.
Dressed in traditional winter attire ‘Pheran’, Jahan Feroz, 4, of the Naidkhai area in the Bandipora district of north Kashmir, was among the hundreds of children—most of them first-timers—who attended the function at Bakshi Stadium.
The exceptionally fair-skinned girl, with golden hair and green eyes, Jahan, was munching on a lollipop and applauding on seeing the groups of students acting out ceremonial roles on the occasion, marking the formal adoption of the Indian Constitution.
Braving intense morning chill, hundreds of people including locals and tourists, witnessed the live broadcast of the tricolor unfurling on the large screen at Lal Chowk as well.
“My niece was excited to attend the event, so I couldn’t say no to her, even though it was a challenging task for me to drive from Bandipora to Srinagar in the freezing cold,” Feroz Ahmad Makaya, Jahan’s uncle told ‘Kashmir Images’
Five-year-old Zulqernain from the old city’s Nawab Bazar area rose from his seat to cheer the police, insisting his mother, a government employee, to allow him to join the police march-past contingent.
