From Ladakh to Kerala and Arunachal to Gujarat – India reverberated with the sounds of Conch shells, Bells, Yells, claps and thalis

PM Modi is a mass leader, commanding the kind of respect which no other leader in his country can boast of. This is the reason why the self-imposed Janata Curfew also turned out to be such an unprecedented success yesterday, but when he requested the citizens to turn up in their balconies and thank essential service providers with a five-minute standing ovation for five minutes, even he wouldn’t have imagined the kind of overwhelming and enthusiastic response that the nation witnessed yesterday.

In what was easily the largest ever public-led uniting exercise, what happened at 5 PM yesterday became a massive show of collective conscience and nationhood- probably the biggest ever that we have seen since the country gained independence in 1947. Unprecedently, the exercise cut through all divides- religion, region, language, caste and class even as the entire nation from Kargil to Chennai and from Mizoram to Gujarat reverberated with the sounds of Conch shells, bells, yells, claps and thalis. For those five minutes- the North-South divide, the East-West divide or the language divide did not matter for any Indian citizen thanking the service providers at the frontline of this Pandemic.

Videos poured in on social media showing the grand success that this initiative has become, easily turning out to be the first of its kind not only in India but across the globe as 1.33 billion, that is, quite literally every one of seven people on this globe uniting on one single factor. This video from India’s northernmost Union Territory, Ladakh shows people coming out in the inhospitable and harsh terrain of the region to bang thalis and thank their service providers.

The service providers also drew a resounding applause from the female ward of district hospital in the Kargil district of the Union Territory of Ladakh.

Another video from the Line of Control (Poonch) in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir has gone viral in which Army jawans can be seen joining the innovative thanksgiving to the essential service providers.

Another thali bajao video coming in from Chennai shows how an entire apartment society reverberated with the sounds of people cheering for the nation’s valiant service providers.

In the Northeast, Mizoram’s Capital Aizawl applauded the service providers by playing the Mizo state song as thousands of people sang together from their homes- the sounds reverberating across the entire city. And in Shillong, the sounds of people thanking those at the frontlines by clapping, banging plates and blowing Conch shells echoed in the majestic valleys of the serene capital of Meghalaya.

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From Gujarat, this video of Prime Minister Modi’s 99-year old mother clanging utensils to thank service providers amid loud and heartening sounds of Shankhnaads has gone viral, showing the kind of success the event unsurprisingly became in India’s westernmost state of Gujarat.

The Conch Shells were in particular an instant hit across the nation, and TFIPOST Founder-CEO, Atul Mishra too resorted to Shankhnaad against the Coronavirus and for taking our heroes who are currently at the frontlines while we stay in the safety of our homes.

Bollywood actor, Kay Kay Menon too blew the Shankh (Conch Shell), thanking the valiant heroes combating the Coronavirus outbreak and tackling the public health emergency.

With this, PM Modi has not only fostered a deep sense of solidarity among the citizens of the country in the fight against the novel Wuhan virus, but what happened at 5 PM yesterday has itself become a massive nationalising and uniting exercise. Prime Minister Modi’s mass appeal which led to citizens breaking out of all divides to become a part of the public-led national exercise has unveiled a unique kind of nationalism- a sense of collective belonging that binds us together.

As India thanked its service providers, a 1.33 billion strong nation ended up with a massive show of strength- easily the biggest this world has ever seen, both in terms of region and population.