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KOHIMA — An all-girl NCC band from North Eastern Region (NER) comprising 45 junior wing cadets including 25 from St. Mary's Cathedral Higher Secondary School, Kohima, and 20 from St. Francis De Sales Higher Secondary School, Narangi, Guwahati, is set to make history by representing the region for the first time in the Republic Day.
The Republic Day Camp, an annual month-long event held at DG NCC Campus, New Delhi, saw selected cadets from across the country participating. This year, the Vice President of India Jagdeep Dhankhar inaugurated the Republic Day Camp 2024 at the same venue.
Kohima cadets belong to the 1 Nagaland Girls Bn NCC, and Guwahati cadets are from the 1 Assam Bn NCC.
The young musicians, primarily students of classes VIII and IX, have been showcasing their talents with instruments such as trumpets, trombones, euphoniums, sousaphones, cymbals, side, and bass drums during the ongoing camp.
"The NER girls band represents unity in diversity, bringing together cadets from the Seven Sister States with a shared passion for music," remarked Kekhriesenuo Solo, associate NCC officer from St. Mary's Higher Secondary School, during an interview with Eastern Mirror from New Delhi on Friday evening.
"The NER girls band is the zenith of two unit bands, geographically distant yet synergised and cohesive, a team of little musicians from the land of the Seven Sister States," she said adding "The band truly represents unity in diversity of our great nation in general and northeast in particular."
The band, after weeks of dedicated training, has been performing a repertoire of tunes including patriotic classics like "Hum Honge Kamaya," "Kadam Kadam Badhaye Ja," "Taqat Watan," "Vijay Bharat," "Aye Watan Aye Watan," "Saare Jahan Se Achaa," "Rajasthan," "Arjuna," and "Jai Ho" at various events organised during the camp.
Anticipating their performance at the national-level Republic Day parade in the national capital on January 26, Solo expressed hope that the cadets' performance would meet the expectations of esteemed dignitaries present including the President of India, Prime Minister, army chiefs and other eminent personalities.
The Republic Day Camp has been witnessing rigorous practice sessions.
The girls' band conducted a practice session at the National War Memorial near India Gate in New Delhi on Friday evening.
Out of the 171 cadets including 97 girls and 74 boys representing the northeast, 31 cadets are from Nagaland consisting four senior division boys, two senior wing girls and 25 junior wing girls (NER girls band).
The NER contingent will be engaging in diverse activities such as Prime Minister rally, cultural competitions, youth exchange programmes and the best cadet competition etc.
The camp, which began on January 5, will extend throughout the entire month beyond the culmination of Republic Day celebrations.
In total, there are 17 NCC directorates in the country with one located in the northeast covering the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura.