HYDERABAD: Two children walking on the road suddenly stop as they hear the national anthem being played from the loudspeakers. During Republic Day celebrations, that is what happens everywhere. But in Nalgonda town, it happens everyday. It has been happening for the last one year.
At 8. 30 am, as the national anthem is heard at 12 places across the town, traffic came to a grinding halt. People stop where they are. For the next 52 seconds, they stand in attention.
In the next one month or so, residents of Tipparthi, close to Nalgonda town, will stop as soon as the national anthem is played. In a couple of months or so, this will be introduced in at least another four places surrounding the town.
“It was an idea that we borrowed from Jammikunta where the national anthem is played everyday,” said Karnati Vijay Kumar, president of Jana Gana Mana Utsava Samithi.
Healong with like-minded people introduced this ritual on January 23, 2021, in the town with then SP and DIG AV Ranganath appreciating them for their idea. Before the anthem is played, volunteers of the samithi hold aloft the national flag at different junctions.
“As I was standing, two kids camefrom a nearby lane and saluted when the national anthem was being played,” a doctor Jaya Prakash Reddy said. He posted a photograph of the boys on social media. The doctor noticed the boys near Seetharamachandra Swamy temple at Ramagiri in Nalgonda town which is one of the places where the loudspeakers were arranged.
