Established in 1936 “I sketch your world exactly as it goes.” -Arthur Foot August 15, 2020|Issue No. 2578 The Indian Flag Remembering Manto Unsung Heroes A look into the evolution of the A contemplation of the works of Remembering the contributions of Indian flag. Sa’adat Hasan Manto. our citizens to the freedom struggle. Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Editorial To Be Free Varen Talwar Having been a part of the Weekly it is to live under another’s rule. I than three-fourths of a century: a for over three years, and having have known only to be free, and democracy, the establishment of expressed quite a few unpopular I have taken that for granted. It metropolitan and cosmopolitan opinions in various fora, I have seems like the most efficient and cities, and one with some of the thought and learnt a lot about the sensible way to live and let live finest educational and professional idea of freedom that has allowed from my perspective, so it is hard facilities for engineering, software, me to do so. With social unrest for me to imagine how someone and medicine in the world. throughout the country, and a can just claim control over others. Thinking about this makes me feel rapidly changing political landscape, This normalisation of freedom grateful, and I realise the immense I think that this Independence Day that enables us to be able to have responsibility that we all have is a good time to remind ourselves lively debates in School, and people in upholding the basis for this of the responsibility left to us to express unpopular opinions in progress: freedom. It is important by our predecessors who fought the Weekly or the School Council, to never take our independence for our country’s independence. is perhaps the most precious for granted, for then we will be Therefore, this issue of the Weekly achievement of India, and the oblivious to any encroachments primarily presents an overview of world, after the horrors of the past on it. For that, we must always be the freedom struggle, as much of few centuries. aware of our past, which will serve this narrative has been increasingly as a reminder of the price that had overlooked with the adoption to be paid for our present. of international curricula and It is important Last year, during my exchange globalised mindsets. It is important programme, I was in England. for us to never forget our past, for to never take our The exchange coordinator took however advanced and westernised independence for me to a museum in Oxford, and we may become, being Indian is an we had an awkward moment as we irrefutable identity all of us carry granted, for then we glanced at British loot from the with us, and there can be no better will be oblivious to Anglo-Mysore wars. I particularly description of the Indian identity remember a hat that belonged to than the efforts that it took to any encroachments Tipu Sultan, and as we both stood establish it. on it quietly in front of the glass casing, However, while the rest of the I could feel the heavy weight of issue deals with this narrative, I our histories weighing down on us. would like to go down a different, Transitioning from a colonial Personally, I would have liked it if more abstract path, and discuss government to a democracy with we had been able to talk about it, the very idea of independence. extensive rights and liberties in a but both of us were unwilling to As I said, my experience with span of just 73 years is a testament offend each other. In the age of freedom of speech over the years to the determination and vision of political correctness, this problem has led me to introspect quite a lot our founding leaders. Of course, is ubiquitous, which is very about this idea. One of the most there is still a lot to be desired, counter-productive if our aim is to important observations I made but we must never forget what we promote tolerance and problem- was that I really don’t know how have been able to achieve in less (Continued on the next page) 2 the doon school weekly (Continued from the previous page) grudges; we were given this independence by our resolution. I am sure if we had talked about it even leaders with the responsibility to ensure that the gross for five minutes, we would have assured each other injustice which our ancestors suffered does not occur that we were past our contentious history, and things ever again. Skirting around the subject or entirely would have been much more relaxed. reducing it to memories of the past is simply not the In conclusion, I think that this Independence Day, solution. Let us exercise our freedom, and be aware we should keep in mind how privileged we are to of its immense worth. be free, so that we safeguard it. This does not mean Happy Independence Day! that we extrapolate the past to the present and hold The Indian Flag Shreyan Mittal describes the evolution of the Indian Flag. Usually, on Independence Day, we tend to talk aligned horizontally. It also had the Union flag in about the history of India and the various martyrs the upper left-hand corner, which symbolised the who sacrificed themselves for the love of this dominion status that the citizens were trying to country. However, one aspect that largely goes under get. Seven white stars and a white crescent moon everyone’s radar is how the Indian national flag has adorned it, with the stars being arranged in the shape evolved through the decades, and how each change of the Saptarishi constellation, which is considered was made to reflect the state of our country at that auspicious to Hindus. This flag was the first one that point in time. Indians used to identify themselves with, and become known as a symbol of the people. For decades the All-India Congress, under the The saffron stood for courage, leadership of Mohandas K. Gandhi, struggled to unite the millions of British-ruled peoples in India. the white for peace and the Like many other movements around the world, it felt green for growth. the need for a unique symbol that could represent its objectives. In 1921 a student named Pingali Venkayya presented a flag design to Gandhi that consisted of the colours associated with the two principal religions, The earliest known flag of India, called the Calcutta red for the Hindus and green for the Muslims. To Flag, was said to have been hoisted on August 7, 1906, that, Gandhi added a white stripe in the middle to in the Parsee Bagan Square in Calcutta. It was the represent the remaining communities in India and first unofficial flag of India and had been designed by also a spinning wheel, which represented nation’s Sachindra Prasad Bose and Hemchandra Kanungo. progress and was simultaneously associated with The flag consisted of three equal stripes-- orange on Gandhi himself. top, yellow in the centre and green at the bottom. There were also eight half-opened lotus flowers on the top stripe representing the eight provinces of India, alongside a picture of the sun and a crescent When you see it hoisted, moon on the bottom stripe. This flag also had “Vande remember the sacrifices made Mataram” inscribed in the middle. The next evolution of the Indian flag took place to keep it aloft and free. during the Home Rule movement between 1916- 1918. It consisted of five red and four green stripes, It was not until 1931 that an actual resolution was passed that adopted the tri-colour as India’s national flag. The forebearer to the present flag, this one too consisted of saffron, white and green stripes with Gandhi’s spinning wheel in the middle. The saffron stood for courage, the white for peace and the green for growth. Finally, on July 22, 1947, the official flag of India was recognised, with no changes to the colours except for the removal of the spinning wheel and in its place, the Dharma Chakra of Emperor Ashoka. This is our flag today: when you see it hoisted, remember the sacrifices made to keep it aloft and free. Saturday, August 15 | Issue No. 2578 the doon school weekly 3 Online Orators Storytellers in Science A team comprising Gurmehar Singh Bedi, Shreyan Following are the results of the B.G. Pitre Science Mittal, and Vivhaan Kothari participated in the BVC Fiction Short Story Contest 2020: PDC 2020 Inter-School Debating Competition. The team emerged as Runner-up and Gurmehar In the Seniors Category, Adit Khosla and Advaita Singh Bedi was adjudged Best Speaker of the Sood were adjuged the Winners, and Varen Talwar tournament. was Runner-up. Congratulations! In the Juniors Category, Krishay Sutodia was the Winner and Rachit Jain was Runner-up. This Week in History Well Done! 1898: An armistice is signed between The United Who is Montero Lamar Hill? States and Spain in which the The United States Krishnav Sachdev: A rapper artist formally agrees to the secession of Cuba and Puerto Advay Kajaria: A drummer Rico. Keshaw Singhania: An artist 1919: The Weimar constitution is formally declared, Bhai Kabir: A golfer establishing Germany as a republic. 1945: Japan accepts the Potsdam terms, and agrees to Montero Lamar Hill, better known by his stage unconditional surrender after two atomic bombs are name Lil Nas X, is an American rapper, singer and dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.