Beating Retreat is an Indian military ceremony which officially denotes the end of Republic Day festivities. It is conducted on the evening of the third day after the Republic Day which is 26th January, (and therefore on January 29). The venue is Raisina Hills and an adjacent square, flanked by the north and south block of the Indian Parliament. North Block is where my office is located. Military Bands of the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force perform the ceremony. Civilian bands and police bands do not participate. The armed forces introduce new marches every year during the ceremony. The Chief Guest of the function is the President of India. The president always arrives with a full escort from the President's Body Guards (PBG), a cavalry unit. Ceremony The ceremony starts by the massed bands of the three services marching in unison. The tune played is not force-specific. Instead, popular marching tunes like Colonel Bogey and Sons of the Brave are played. The military band then strikes up a Fanfare. This is followed by them marching forward in quick time. They then break into slow time, and do the "compound march" involving intricate and beautiful patterns made on the drill square by the bands men positioning themselves in well timed movements. The military band, again, breaks into quick time and goes back to the farthest end of Raisina Hills. The military band is followed by the Pipes and Drums of the Indian Army who play traditional Scottish and Indian tunes like "Gurkha Brigade" and "Chaandni" . The band also does a compound march and finally returns to its starting location. The last bands to perform are the combined bands of the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force. This part of the ceremony ends after they too perform the quick march and the compound march. The three band contingents march forward. They take position close to the President's seat. The Drum-Major assumes command, and the drummers fall out. The drummers then give a solo performance on the drums (known as the Drummer's Call), with other musicians keeping complete silence. This is followed by a tune, which is termed as the "Lullaby". The conductor may be a band master from either the Army, the Navy, or the Air Force. A regular feature of this pageant is the last tune played before the Retreat. It is the famous Christian Hymn composed by William H Monk, Abide With Me. The chimes made by the Tubular Bells, placed quite at a distance, creates a mesmerising ambience. This hymn is believed to be one of Gandhi's favourites. This is followed by the bugle call for Retreat, and all the flags are slowly brought down. After this the band master marches to the President and symbolically requests permission to take the bands away, and informs him that the closing ceremony is now complete. The band then marches back playing the popular martial tune Saare Jahan Se Achcha. As soon as the bands cross Raisina Hills a spectacular illumination display is set up on the North and South Blocks of the Parliament building. Organisation The duty of organising the ceremony is shared among the forces on a rotating basis. For the year 2005 the ceremony was organised by the Indian Air Force. The "Director of Music" of the force which is organising the event arrives on the dais to conduct the prayer hymn "Abide with Me", which was Founder of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi's favorite song, and a permanent feature of the "Beating Retreat" ceremony. SNAKEY