Appooppanthaadi -23

October 1 is celebrated as the National Day in China.  National Day is celebrated to commomerate  the revolution that took place in China under the leadership of Mao Zedung. City roads and building were decorated with the red national flags.

" The PRC's National Day was declared at three o'clock on October 1, 1949, in front of 300,000 people during a ceremony in Tian'anmen Squeare. Chairman Mao declared the founding of the People's Republic and waved the first five-star PRC flag. "


To me, this national day also looked like our own independence day. A total holiday for the salaried class and schools. The school students, at least, go to school to attend the customary flag hoisting. Salaried class most probably spend an extend stay in their beds before wriggle out to reach out to the arm chair placed right in front of the television set.



Daily wage earners like Taxi drivers, sweepers, rikshaw riders  and other working class ( the prolitrait in technical parlance!) were on their job as in any other day. Rag pickers were seen going about their job.

As in any other day, there was regular stream of visitors to the trash cans that are placed all over the road sides. The visitors were in search of empty beer and water bottles. Worn out and old people make a living out of trash cans here too.


Having mentioned trash cans, I shall say a little more about them. Almost on every roads, trash cans are placed at regular intervals and people use it to deposite waste. Of course there are people who prefer to litter the walkways and roads, but their number is very less. The trash cans are cleared regularly and we can not find them over flowing. More surprisisngly, they remain in their place undamaged or overturned


The cleaning staff are always seen on the road and they go about their job sincerely. Most of the roads are regularly cleaned by mechanised vehicles and water is sprinkled on the roads using tankers. Not even a single drainage man hole or a slab is kept open anywhere in the cities of China.

China comes to a standstill on the first day of October and for the following one week, every factory and  office remains closed. This is the occassion, people of the country make customary visits to their friends and relatives. They travel a lot during this period. Railway stations and bus stations will be swarmed with sea of commuters during this time. There is no dearth of fliers too.


I had to take out a journey to another city on the National Day on an official job. All through the way to airport, I could spot a lot of processions of luxury cars mosly consisting of high end versions of Audi, BMW and Benz that were all flcoking together for marriages.

As the nation was in a holiday slumber, I too remain holed up in my room. After my return from the Shenyang city,  on the fourth day of the holidays, I got to go to the nearby Pizza Hut along with three of my Indian colleagues to have lunch. We ordered vegetable pizza along with onion rounds (like our own onion pakora). After a long wait, the pizza came to our table.



We four took one piece each. By this time I am an expert in using the fork and knife. With unusual ease, I cut a piece out the pizza with the knife and fork, gorged the piece with the fork and slipped it into my mouth. As I have been chewing it, the other man dropped a bombshell. He stumbled on a piece of meat. It was a pizza laced with pork or beef that was mistakenly served on our table. By this time, the piece had already made its way down my throat!

It is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain virginity as a strict vegetarian. Even in the canteens or restaurants, there is no concept of a pure vegetarian food. Even if we manage to get a strict vegetarian dish, there is no guarantee that they have not used animal fat! O, dear vegetarians, if you have any plans to come to China, be prepared to eat a little meat or else have fruits and raw vegetables. Alterately, try to bring ready to eat food items from India. Otherwise there is one more option -cook your food yourself.

For more phots, click :  Images from the road sides