Sister Tanner's All Time Favorite

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Republic Day in India is a national holiday. It is celebrated as the day that the new constitution of the now independent India went into effect 60 years ago. There are parades in many cities around the country, but the granddaddy of them all is the one in New Delhi, the country's capital. Those watching the parade number in the hundreds of thousands and it is a security challenge to screen everyone that enters. We went last year and had tickets again this year. I gave mine to a branch member who had never been to the parade before and it was a great experience for him as he escorted Sister Tanner.

I captured the video from an Internet stream from a local TV or government entity broadcasting the parade, not sure which or if they are one and the same. The clip recorded format is such that MovieMaker could not handle it, so you've got it just the way I captured the clip. I could not edit it. But I got what I was after and that is a recording of Sister Tanner's all time parade favorite band. You cannot take cameras or cell phones into the parade viewing area for security reasons.

A couple of notes:

The video is shot from the reviewing stand where the dignitaries were. There were government officials from Korea. The lady in the white coat seen saluting is India's president, Madam Patil. Near the end of the clip is a shot of the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh. He wears a blue turban. Watch each band's drum major's salute, it is something. The whole event is quite an experience with flyovers, military hardware, bands and marching units from most states and the national military units, floats, it has it all and the marching precision is something that is outstanding. Oh, and it really was as foggy as it appears. We had a prolonged period of foggy weather that played havoc with the Delhi airport, but the parade was only slightly affected.

Sister Tanner's all time parade favorite can be seen beginning around 1:40 into the clip. Until you've seen this mounted band, you haven't seen anything. The mounted band and the mounted group immediately in front of it are from the BSF, Border Security Force, in Rajasthan where there is lots of deseret in a long border with Pakistan.