On this trip to New Delhi I had a number of places on my list to visit which included Red Fort, Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament, Qutub Minar and of course India Gate. The India Gate was originally called the All India War Memorial and is located alongside the Rajpath. The astonishing architecture has the names of some 70000 soldiers inscribed �on the memorial arch. Post independence from the British Rule India Gate became the venue of the Amar Jawan Jyoti which burns non stop in a shrine under the arch of the India Gate. One can also see a rifle mounted with a soldier’s helmet on the top. You can feel a sense of pride when you witness the names of the soldiers engraved, an experience one cannot have sitting in front of the television. We cannot get our soldiers back, all I could do was bow my head with great respect to the brave sons who sacrificed their lives for our welfare and well being. Alongside I also witnessed hundreds of tourists, most of them foreigners,stand in awe�and click�numerous pictures with all possible poses and directions with the India Gate in background. Most of them only had studied the mayhem of the wars and thus this was a rewarding experience for them as well. They were �all fortunate to see this magnificent structure which symbolises �Indians’ gratitude to the soldiers who fought the WW I.
There are also three flags in front of the India Gate which portray the three armed forces of India. May soldiers posed for the photographs too, which was definitely a sight worth seeing.
It was time for me to leave. A salute with a Thank You and a promise to return soon was all I could manage as I bid goodbye to this great monument.