The 60th Republic Day was celebrated on all campuses of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. Traditional flag-hoisting ceremonies in the morning were followed by brief speeches about the significance of the event.

On this day, sixty years ago, the Indian Constitution came into effect as the highest law of the land. As in other colleges in India, students in all schools of Amrita also study a semester-long course in the Indian Constitution. Incidentally, ours is the longest written constitution in the entire world.
 

 
Faculty and staff at the Kochi campus afterwards assembled for the finals of the Unity Cup Cricket Tournament. At Amritapuri, students watched a live web-cast of the solar eclipse relayed from Africa.
 
Arati A. Kaushik, 1st year engineering student from Coimbatore, was at Rajpath in New Delhi on invitation by the Ministry of Human Resources Development to view the Republic Day parade from the Prime Minister’s box. She was chosen for this honor because of her excellent performance in the CBSE Board.
 
“Even though the Prime Minister could not attend due to ill-health, I felt very inspired to be able to participate in the day’s events from such close quarters,” shared Arati, on phone, from Delhi. “Our President Ms. Pratibha Patil took the salute and then we watched the national parade go by.”
 
Traditionally a head of state is the chief guest at the celebrations. This year President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, one of our extended neighbors, just beyond Pakistan and Afghanistan, was invited. “From the President’s speech, I was amazed to learn that Buddha’s images have been found on the banks of rivers in Kazakhstan,” she added.

January 26, 2009
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore