Martyrs’ Day: When Every Mast Bowed

Two minutes at eleven

Picture 75 draws the flag down to two quiet lines and a small wheel — the gallery’s most hushed composition, keeping the date the flag reserves for grief alone.

On 30 January 1948, Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated, and for the first time the young nation’s flags came down to half-mast together in mourning. The date became Martyrs’ Day — Shaheed Diwas — observed each year with a two-minute silence at 11 a.m. for all who died for India’s freedom. The flag’s calendar holds celebrations in plenty; this is the morning it holds for loss.