Capturing the spirit of Republic Day!

I remember my school days when I would be part of the march past squad for Republic day and Independence day. On those two days, we would have the flag hoisting session, where we would wear the Indian flag instead of our badges and salute the flag by singing the national anthem. History books were always there to tell us about the freedom struggle that India as a nation faced to acquire the Independence from the British, and how Republic Day is a tribute to the date on which the Constitution of India came into effect as the governing document of India. It was always a proud moment to salute the Indian flag and be a part of the parade at school and those memories are priceless. The euphoria of these days seem to have reduced somehow and it is difficult to spot as many celebrations and similar enthusiasm as I used to see as a kid. One really has to look out for any parades or flag hoisting or even find stalls or sellers with flags and other trinkets. With Aryaa now growing up, I want to pass on the stories and learning to her, and I want to make sure that she does her bit for the nation even though it may be on a smaller scale. Now that she is communicating clearer and understanding most of the things we tell her, PS and I decided to step out on Republic Day and put in efforts to locate whatever that we could, so that she could start to experience the magic of what we did as kids.

We wanted to capture every moment to give lifetime memories to Aryaa to sit back and relish some day in the future. Since our phones are so advanced and technologically easily and better these days, especially with me having got the new Coolpad Cool 1 dual phone, we decided to skip the SLR and capture everything on it.

The first thing that I had to do was get Aryaa a flag and some more tricolour accessories, but I was surprised to see only one seller in the whole market stocking different kinds of badges and bands in the tricolour. However, while I was strolling through the market I saw different age groups of people selling flags and it was nice to see the patriotic spirit across all age groups.

I used the regular photo mode for the pictures above and as you can see, the colours have been captured very well and in focus.

The Coolpad Cool 1 has a mode called the SLR mode where you could get a nice bokeh effect for the background. I love how this picture of the flags has got that nice blurry background which makes it easier me to skip the post processing.

People showcased their bit of patriotism with some putting the flags on their vehicles and stalls, and some pinned the tricolour badge to their shirt pockets.

We witnessed the flag hoisting in a number of places. India has truly believed in Unity in Diversity time and again. For all important occasions across the nation, people from all religions have always united and come together to celebrate, and this was evident even on Republic Day. Everyone saluted the flag with pride and that is what matters!

The above picture was taken in the HDR mode and I love how the birds were captured in the frame.

Our day would not be complete without visiting one of the heritage structures, and thus we headed to CST station to see the tricolour projection that they do on the building every year. Since we went a little later in the night so as to avoid a huge crowd with Aryaa around, there was a little less projection but it was amazing to see how the Night Mode captured all the elements beautifully in the frame. 

Our local mall also left no stone unturned and it was nice to see a huge tricolour installation with bicycle wheels. I tried out the Selfie Mode and the Night Mode to get the colours here. 

I had a fun time using various modes of my Coolpad Cool 1 especially for the images where it gave me the SLR outcome. Also, these pictures are absolutely unedited and only the watermark has been added. 

The 4000mAh battery helped the phone last all day, which allowed me to capture everything without the fear of running out of battery. As the phone weighs only 173 grams, it was absolutely light to carry around. The Coolpad Cool 1 dual has a finger sensor below the rear camera module, which helps you to click pictures by just touching the finger on to the sensor. This made it very easy for me to click selfies as I had to no more worry about any camera shakes. Quite a cool phone overall! Get it here - http://amzn.to/2kaMCus

It was nice to see that even though the urge to celebrate these special days has gone down over time, different people of the society were putting in those little efforts to help continue and impart the legacy of this day among the new generation and help them participate as well. Aryaa did enjoy her time out and did sing Jana Gana Mana since she hears it on TV as well and I hope her enthusiasm only builds up over the years.

If you like what you see on Ri(t)ch Styles and want to stay updated regularly, follow Ri(t)ch Styles on 

    

You can also email me on ritchstyles@gmail.com :)