The Best India Parade We Didn't Attend.

January 26 is Republic Day in India.  They celebrate the formation of the Republic of India in 1950.  They have a parade attended by the President, VP and Prime Minister.  So we thought it would be good to get tickets and attend (we have lived in Houston for 30 years and never have attended a parade, but hey, we're in India).  We got the tickets, and then we saw the restrictions.  In bold letters on the back of the ticket it says:  Ticketholders are requested to not bring any bag, briefcase, radio, pager, mobile telephones, tape recorders, cameras, binoculars, digital diary, palm-top computer, remote controlled car-lock keys, arms and ammunition, match box, cigarette lighter, thermos flask, water bottles, knife, razor, scissors, screwdriver, blade, ipod, wires, explosives of any form, etc. with them as all such items will not be allowed to be carried to the seating enclosures.  In addition, everyone had to be in their seats 30 minutes before the parade started and not leave until the President, VP and Prime Minister had left.  On top of all this, there was a general security release from the Church to not be in these kinds of crowds because of an unconfirmed terrorist attack. 
 
We didn't know what to do.  Can you imagine a parade in the US with the restrictions listed above (would anyone attend?)  Being unfamiliar with the "downtown" area of Delhi, and not being able to take a cell phone with us, we opted not to go.   We watch the parade in comfort (and warmth) of our apartment, and I took pictures of the TV screen.  I figured I could do that since I paid to attend the parade.  I even "cropped" them so they look like we were there...   We actually saw more on TV than we would have been able to see, 15 rows back in the crowds.


Lots of show of various branches of the military

 

Outfits and Headdresses are very colorful
 

Lots of dancing groups with colorful outfits

Many floats

Lots of acrobats on motorcycles.  This is a pyramid of
riders balanced on 9 motorcycles

Several displays of various aircraft, planes and
helicopters

The President was hosting the King and Queen of Bhutan, I even got their pictures, but decided it would be best to not post them.  It might keep me out of an Indian jail.