THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: “Uncle, where’s the safety catch?!” asked the young bespectacled girl who was toting the rifle. Her classmates who watched her struggle to hold the rifle, gave her a helping hand.
“That’s the safety, but the magazine is quite empty,” a soldier told her, and went on to explain the mechanics of the India-make infantry weapon. At the other end of queue, one of the best-known Soviet-era sniper rifles was getting its due from a bunch of excited schoolchildren. They took turns checking out the black, menacing-looking Dragunov. A soldier, camouflaged in the ‘leafy’ ghillie suit of the sniper, explained how the rifle can mow down a quarry over a kilometre away.
These interesting scenes unfurled at the dust-blown parade ground of the Indian Army at Pangode where a weapons display was organised on Tuesday for the public as part of the 70th Independence Day celebrations. The programme began with a half-hour performance by the Madras Regiment’s pipe band. The singular wail of Scottish bagpipes, accompanied by drum beats, resonated across the open space as the turbaned band members, feisty in green and white, marched to and fro with a jaunty swing to their shoulders.
“The exhibition is aimed at creating awareness about the armed forces and also to motivate youngsters to join it when they grow up. We had sent invitations to around 25 schools and colleges,” a defence spokesperson said.
Stalls were set up at the ground where the weaponry- from AK-47 assault rifles, to 9 mm pistols and rocket launchers to Light Machine Guns- were on display. A small group had gathered where a soldier explained the workings of the 30 mm Automatic Grenade Launcher (AGL). Movies on the heroism and sacrifices made by the Indian Army were also screened at the event.