THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: They were all from Thiruvananthapuram, many of them techies, gathered to celebrate the 65th Independence Day at the Shangumugham beach in the city. Some were in a hurry to reach their office, but they also were quite determined to uphold the spirit of nationalism outside Facebook’s virtual world. In fact, the Independence Day also provided members of the ‘Trivandrum-let’s find out how many of us are here in fb’ with an opportunity to meet each other in the real world for the first time. Thirty of the 4,665 members were present at Monday’s celebrations. It was after several discussions that the team finally decided to organise their first real-life meeting on Independence Day. After considering several venues, Nithin S R and Nitin Prabhakar, administrators of the group, chose the beach. They shelled out money for the flag pole and the national flag. Here too they wished for something different, and decided that the flag would be hoisted by one among the group members to be gathered on the day. There would be no ‘chief guest.’‘’We would have lost the spirit of the entire celebration if a chief guest was invited. All would have become busy to take care of him,’’ said Nitin Prabhakar, chief operating officer, Artin dynamics, Technopark.The person to hoist the national flag was chosen by draw of lots, and Arun Sadanand, a B Tech graduate from Sree Chitra College of Engineering, became that ‘lucky man.’ The others appeared a tad sceptical at the result as it was Arun himself who had written down the names! After Arun unfurled the flag, the team gathered around the flag post and sang the National Anthem. Their spirit prompted onlookers to join in the celebrations. The group dispersed after discussing the adverse effects of drunken driving, the topic of discussion for the day.
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