Here is a list of kickass ways to make the most of the big day of Azaadi — some by us and others by Dilliwalas 1 Click selfies with the flag in the background. The bigger the flag, the more the number of likes you may expect to receive. PS: We plan to petition for Connaught Place’s tri-colour to be declared a national monument.
2 Hindustan Times in association with North Delhi Municipal Corporation is orgainising the Raahgiri Day at Chandni Chowk. This car-free festival is only for pedestrians who can freely explore the food markets, fly kites and experience live music as they go along shopping.
3 Ride on DTC buses for free. No we are not kidding! Delhiites can hop on to DTC buses from 6am to 10am without being charged for the ticket, tweeted @sandeiepchanda.
4 Watch our not-so-brand new PM Narendra Modi deliver his maiden Independence Day address to the nation. 10,000 seats will be available for general public at the historic Red Fort. Hurry!
5"Eat. Hog. Stuff yourself crazy. Fruit Chaat, Butter Chicken, Momos, Pakodas, home-made kathal or whatever else I fancy. I am going to break all my diet rules!" said Tanvi Bhutan, 21.6"Considering it is a dry day, my friends and I will not get liquor using any illegal doorways," says Vaibhav Minocha.
7From Nainital to Jaipur, Agra to Rishikesh, hop-skip-jump your way to a well-deserved break this extra-long weekend. And if you are feeling adventurous, go to the Wagah border.
8"My personal favourite: I plan to sleep away to glory all day long," says Jhinuk Mukhopadhyay.
9 "Show your patriotism by changing your Whatsapp display picture to the tri-colour, because everyone else is also doing that," says Rahul Bhatia.
10Watch the plethora of Bollywood movies on offer. "Take your pick from Rang De Basanti, Lakshya, Chak De India, Mother India, Gadar, I-am-running-out-of-breath-here, Border, one of the Bhagat Singh movies, Swades — the list goes on..." says Mahima Sikand.
11 "Don’t depend on the mommy. Go, cook up a storm in the kitchen yourself!" says Bhumika Popli.
12Get your rusted vocal chords in order and sing the National Anthem with vim and vigour.
13"I am going to burst crackers. Even though popping fireworks causes smoke,it is just so much fun. Hence, I will exercise my right to cause pollution," says Ankush Biswas.
14"I am missing Delhi so much. I will pray for peace and cook Biryani for my daughter and me," says Krupa Russell, a Delhiite who is currently in Florida, USA.
15"I will try to get my hands on the national bird of India. Grilled Chicken. Or Butter Chicken. Or Tandoori Chicken. Yum!" chuckles Anmol Kaushik.
16 "Go for a long walk. Take your dog for a walk," says Samina Keskar.
17 "Go on a photography spree. Shoot pictures with the orange, white and green colour scheme," says Prateek Ahuja.
18Don’t take yourself too seriously, go watch stand-up comedy. Enjoy Pretentious Nights With Kanan Gill and Kalyan Biswa, or the Spirit of India at Epicentre Gurgaon and Speak Truth at IHC.
19 Play Antakshari with the near and dear ones.
20"I aim to roadtrip all my city blues away!" says an ecstatic Aazar Anis.
21 "The optimistic me plans to finish a pile of books," says Ankita Biswas.
22Take a YouTube tutorial, make yourself a kite and aim for the skies.
23 "Get yourself stamped on a stamp," says Kaushal Sindwani, adding, "Indian Post is organising a philatelic camp on Independence Day which will be held at Ambience Mall. Some rare stamps will also be sold."
24 "There’s this site called ask.fm, where you can contact random people by sending them questions/messages. I plan on sending some love filled messages to all the Pakistani people I come across," says Zubin Samuel.
25 "By not just putting up the flag as DP on Whatsapp just because everybody is doing, but by actually standing up on my feet when the anthem is being sung," says Reni Raju.
26 "I plan to cook a tri-colour lunch for my husband and myself," says Savita Bahadur.
27 "I am hoping for freedom from the city’s chaos and go for a vacation in the hills with my wife," says Raajan Sharma.
28 "As all the roads are empty, I will be travelling freely to work and making money as an independent woman. I just gave slavery a whole new twist," laughs Priyanka Charan.
29 "Forget all the other food items, I am going to make, serve and eat tri-colour chuskis. All day long!" says Manind Bedi.
30 "I think for me, the concept of freedom can only be truly achieved when I have the guts to stop at least one injustice on the road — be it eve teasing or simply trying to solve an argument," says Abhishek Singh.
31 "Being a teacher, I have already started celebrating by practising every day with my students," says Soumya Taneja, a teacher at Springdales school.
32 "Practice writing in Hindi. Or Tamil. Or Punjabi. Or Bengali," says Mitali Bose.
33 Be the person who won’t be tweeting anything political. Your followers would thank you.
34 "Take a long ride in the car around India Gate with all my friends," says Aanchal Bhasin.
35 Find the truth about India’s national animal, language, song, game, sport et al.
36 Dare to read the Constitution of India (We recommend the one edited by Dr Narendra Jadhav, published by Konark Publishers.
37 Check out the week-long I-Day celebrations organised by New Delhi Municipal Corporation. Including the light and sound show at Central Park, Connaught Place.
38Visit the zoo. Make sure not to feed the animals though.
39Take a pledge to abstain from road rage.
40 Join the Royal Mavericks on the Yamuna Expressway, the smoothest expressway, for a 30kms ride on their Royal Enfield bikes.
41 Gather all the neighbourhood kids, turn them into a choir and sing patriotic Bollywood songs.
42 Don’t miss the ITO building which has been specially lit up for the occasion.
43 Go spread cheer at an old age home. Or an orphanage.
44 Attend the One India Concert at Water Park at Worlds Of Wonder in Noida.
20"I aim to roadtrip all my city blues away!" says an ecstatic Aazar Anis.
21 "The optimistic me plans to finish a pile of books," says Ankita Biswas.
22Take a YouTube tutorial, make yourself a kite and aim for the skies.
23 "Get yourself stamped on a stamp," says Kaushal Sindwani, adding, "Indian Post is organising a philatelic camp on Independence Day which will be held at Ambience Mall. Some rare stamps will also be sold."
24 "There’s this site called ask.fm, where you can contact random people by sending them questions/messages. I plan on sending some love filled messages to all the Pakistani people I come across," says Zubin Samuel.
25 "By not just putting up the flag as DP on Whatsapp just because everybody is doing, but by actually standing up on my feet when the anthem is being sung," says Reni Raju.
26 "I plan to cook a tri-colour lunch for my husband and myself," says Savita Bahadur.
27 "I am hoping for freedom from the city’s chaos and go for a vacation in the hills with my wife," says Raajan Sharma.
28 "As all the roads are empty, I will be travelling freely to work and making money as an independent woman. I just gave slavery a whole new twist," laughs Priyanka Charan.
29 "Forget all the other food items, I am going to make, serve and eat tri-colour chuskis. All day long!" says Manind Bedi.
30 "I think for me, the concept of freedom can only be truly achieved when I have the guts to stop at least one injustice on the road — be it eve teasing or simply trying to solve an argument," says Abhishek Singh.
31 "Being a teacher, I have already started celebrating by practising every day with my students," says Soumya Taneja, a teacher at Springdales school.
32 "Practice writing in Hindi. Or Tamil. Or Punjabi. Or Bengali," says Mitali Bose.
33 Be the person who won’t be tweeting anything political. Your followers would thank you.
34 "Take a long ride in the car around India Gate with all my friends," says Aanchal Bhasin.
35 Find the truth about India’s national animal, language, song, game, sport et al.
36 Dare to read the Constitution of India (We recommend the one edited by Dr Narendra Jadhav, published by Konark Publishers.
37 Check out the week-long I-Day celebrations organised by New Delhi Municipal Corporation. Including the light and sound show at Central Park, Connaught Place.
38Visit the zoo. Make sure not to feed the animals though.
39Take a pledge to abstain from road rage.
40 Join the Royal Mavericks on the Yamuna Expressway, the smoothest expressway, for a 30kms ride on their Royal Enfield bikes.
41 Gather all the neighbourhood kids, turn them into a choir and sing patriotic Bollywood songs.
42 Don’t miss the ITO building which has been specially lit up for the occasion.
43 Go spread cheer at an old age home. Or an orphanage.
44 Attend the One India Concert at Water Park at Worlds Of Wonder in Noida.
45Looking to read a patriotic book? Look out for The Brave: Param Vir Chakra Stories.
46 Attend a musical celebration of India — "Come India Sing Jana Gana Mana" at Epicentre Auditorium in Gurgaon.
47 CR Park is hosting a quiz on India by ace quiz master Adittya Nath Mubayi.
48 Check out India’s Facebook Timeline Journey on Youtube, by a group that calls themselves ‘beingindian’.
49 Make use of the HoHo Bus ‘buy 1, get 1 free’ offer which is valid till 30th August.
50 While we’ve all seen the popular Delhi monuments, there are over 100 hidden one tucked all around Delhi. Go, explore them!
51 Go on a clean up drive. "What better way to share the spirit of freedom than by picking up the flags thrown on roads after the various I-Day events," urges Vibhor Anand, of Friends Forever, a group which has special permission to collect flags.
52Fly kites. Go kai po che on your neighbour this Independence Day. "But make sure you don’t end up injuring any birds in the process," warns Abhinav Srihan.Ahronmentalist
53 Take a ride in the Delhi Metro. Beware: Parking will be closed from August 14 to 15. Some of the Delhi Metro stations have hoisted the tri-colour.
54 “Colour your hair with the tri-colour,” says Anisha Russell.
55 Feeling overtly patriotic? Go get a tattoo of the flag!
56Check out DLF Promenade’s art exhibition titled Strokes of Freedom.
57 “If you are stuck at work like me, you can dress up in orange, white and green with a dash of navy blue,” says Geetika Rustogi.
58“I am going to be painting other people’s faces with the tri-colour,” says Neha Abraham.
59“I will be celebrating my last I-Day in the country. I am off for studies to Hong Kong. And I plan to enjoy every moment possible, doing all the traditional things I can in the short time available,” says Anish Saksena.
60Watch Farhan Akhtar at India’s First Ever Live Online Concert.
61 “I plan to catch up on all my missed TV shows. 15th shall be dedicated to Torrentz and YouTube,” says Garima Verma.
62 “I think we should make it a point to boycott all unnecessary protests,” says Kanav Gupta.
63 “Not fight with the auto-wallahs. Not bargain with the Sarojni Nagar bhaiyas for `10. And keep my BP in control,” says Hannah Varkey.
64 “I plan to do some Yoga,” says Madan Arora.
65“I plan to spend the day making people aware of the plus points of owning desi dogs,” says Arun Xalxo.
66 “I plan to sign myself up for donating my organs,” says Dhruv Gund.
67“Don’t pay bribe. Ever,” says Kanika Sikka.
68 “I am compiling a wishlist of things the country needs right now for it to function as a better nation,” says Norvina Joel Singh.