From the depths of the sea in a submarine to the cold and barren world’s highest battlefield Siachen glacier, scores of armed forces personnel on Wednesday performed asanas to celebrate the third International Yoga Day. Commands of all the three Services spread across the length and breadth of the country also marked the day by holding yoga sessions.
Be it Kanyakumari in the south or Arunachal Pradesh in North-East or for that matter at the line of Control (loC) in Jammu & Kashmir, the troops, sailors and airmen along with their officers performed yogic postures. In the national Capital, the Army, Navy and IAF organised separate yoga camps to mark the occasion.
Navy personnel showed their grit and enthusiasm with their yoga demonstrations onboard submarines INS Sindhudhvaj and INS Sindhukirti while a group of air warriors from the IAF performed asanas at leh, the highest airfield. The crew of Eastern Fleet ships of the Navy also started their day practicing yoga in the South Indian Ocean while sailing in warships.
A group of Navy personnel also participated in the celebrations onboard aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya. In New Delhi, Navy Chief Adm Sunil lanba joined other high-ranking Navy officials and their family members in celebrating the yoga day. IAF chief BS Dhanoa also performed yoga with airmen here.
The International Yoga Day was also celebrated by the three Services along with National Cadet Corps (NCC) at various establishments in eastern and north eastern India. All stations of Army’s Eastern Command including units deployed in counter insurgency and those along the line of Actual Control (lAC) in forward areas observed the International Yoga Day by practising various yoga poses.
The main event was conducted at the Eastern Command headquarters, Fort William, Kolkata where the threat of a downpour forced the conduct of the event indoors. The Navy organised a workshop conducted by professional yoga instructors in which around 150 service personnel of INS Netaji Subhash and allied units attended. At the Advance Headquartersof Eastern Air Command in Kolkata, all personnel and their families participated in the yoga sessions.
Around 6,500 NCC cadets under the aegis of NCC Directorate West Bengal and Sikkim participated in yoga sessions at Brigade Parade Ground (Maidan) and Tarakeshwar Degree College, officials said adding the overall participation from NCC stood at about 39,000 cadets, officers, instructors and other staff at 101 venues, including schools and colleges, in West Bengal and Sikkim.