Google doodles independent India's first stamp on August 15

New Delhi: The doodle on the Google India home page this year is a familiar symbol - independent India's first stamp.

The first stamp issued by free India was months after Independence on November 21, 1947 and it depicted the Indian national flag with the popular slogan - "Jai Hind (Long Live India)" written in Hindi. The stamp was valued at three and one-half annas.

In the doodle the stamp forms one 'O' of the Google letters and the other is a 'New Delhi 15 Aug 14' postmark.

Google has been commemorating India's Independence Day on its India home page since 2003.

The 2003 doodle was quite similar to the one that Google posted a couple of years later in 2005 and only had the Tricolour fluttering on the letter 'L' of the Google logo that seemed to double up as a flag post.

There was no Independence Day doodle on Google's India home page in 2004.

The 2005 Indian Independence Day Google doodle had the second 'O' in the Google logo replaced by the Ashoka Chakra.

The Google 2006 Indian Independence Day doodle was also with a flag theme, in which the second 'O' of the Google logo was symbolised by the Ashoka Chakra.

2007 was the 60th year of Indian Independence and Google highlighted the fact with the text "Celebrating 60 years of Independence" on its doodle where the Indian flag appeared behind the Google logo.

There was no Google India Independence Day doodle in 2009. In the 2008 doodle, the Indian flag fluttered over the letters 'L' and 'E' in the Google logo.

The 2010 Google India's Independence Day doodle was perhaps the most creative of all the ones that Google created to celebrate India attaining freedom. It was the first and only animated India Independence Day doodle and was done in traditional rangoli style. The second 'O' in the Google logo was in the form of a lotus in the Indian flag's colours that started to take shape as the page was loaded.

Most of the Google doodles had the Indian national flag as the inspiration. But the 2011 and 2012 doodles used other national symbols in place of the Tricolour. Last year a sketch of Delhi's Red Fort took guard on the Google home page on 15th August.

India's national bird, the peacock, adorned the Google home page on India's Independence Day in 2012. The peacock curved its neck backwards to form the 'G' of the Google logo. The other letters of the Google logo appeared in ornate styling behind the peacock's plume.

A Tricoloured ribbon spelt out the Google letters on the Google India home page in 2013.