Beating Retreat ends Republic Day celebrations

NEW DELHI - The Beating Retreat ceremony Friday concluded India’s 61st Republic Day celebrations as some 1,000 bandsmen drawn from the three services held the audience enthralled for more than an hour with a perfect blend of melody and military precision.

President Pratibha Patil, the supreme commander of the armed forces, was the chief guest at the ceremony. She took the salute as the national anthem was played and the tricolour unfurled.

The highlight, as in previous years, was at the very end as the bandsmen marched into the twilight and many thousands of electric bulbs strung on the Rashtrapati Bhawan, the North and South Blocks flanking it, the nearby parliament house and India Gate monument came alight.