Beating Retreat or taking stock
It’s been a long time since my last post. One can say that I was running out of ideas or possibly thinking less. Well, looks like all the assumptions are going true at this time. But once again, thanks to an old mate who reminded me of the “Beating Retreat” ceremony performed by the Indian Armed Forces at Raisina Hills, better known as the front of the Rashtrapati Bhawan (President’s house). “Beating Retreat” ceremony was initially instituted by the King James II of England (James VII of Scotland) ordering the patrolling troops to return to their base castle with drum rolls, parading through the streets. This order was later improvised over the years to suit the need of the times. Yet, the central idea of the ceremony remained – return of the patrolling troops to base camp and deployment of new unit in its place. Though an English ceremony, this is now practiced by most of the commonwealth countries today. The ceremonial celebrations may have changed due to the place, people or time. I...