As the sun prepared to hide behind the Raisina Hill, silhouettes of men astride horses appeared on top of the Hill. It was the Presidents Bodyguard strutting down to the Vijay Chowk flanking the Presidents limousine for Beating the Retreat ceremony.

A mix of reverberating drum beats and martial tunes, along the soft notes of instruments like the sitar and flute echoed down Rajpath as Indian compositions dominated the formal end of Republic Day celebrations with the Beating Retreat ceremony here.