On the front lawns of the North Block, right opposite the gate leading into his ministry, Advani, this afternoon, hoisted the national flag. It was supposed to be a Home Ministry event, meant for the family of officers who work for the Ministry sparing, of course, the television cameras which are bound to take the recorded visuals to the rest of the nation.

Officials, past and present, don't remember any previous Home Minister leading a flag-hoisting ceremony in the Capital nor do they recollect any separate flag-hoisting for the Home Ministry staff on Independence Day eve. The officers are instead expected to attend the Red Fort function on August 15.

They do remember a couple of brief Ministry-level ceremonies this decade in which the staff pledged to serve the country. But they were apparently held at the rear of thebuilding.

Advani, too his credit, took care that he said nothing in his speech which would hog the headlines from the President's televised interview. There was no mention of the country's security concerns, not a word about the Pokharan blast, nothing on Pakistani mischief or the ministry's declared pro-activism in Kashmir. As reporter said to another, ``What do we file?''

Television crew who cornered him later for a sound-byte too were denied anything exciting. Prodded for a general comment, he said the country was not in a happy situation at present but there was nothing to get pessimistic about. It held great potentials.

In his short speech to his Ministry colleagues and heads of central police organisations, Advani mentioned Bhagwati Charan Verma's novel Tede Mede Rastey, peopled by characters who advocate different paths to Independence.

Advani said, leaders of the freedom movement differed widely in their thinking, but they all contributed in their own way for the cause. Mahatma Gandhi'sapproach differed from that followed by Bhagat Singh. Gandhiji differed from Subhas Chandra Bose, and Veer Savarkar from Jawaharlal Nehru. But all of them commanded the nation's respect.

Advani asked the Ministry staff to take a pledge on shedding a bad habit this Independence Day. It could be anything, he said, from pledging not to arrive late to work or quickly clearing their files. Little things like these made nations progress, he reminded.

And as everybody were invited for tea on the lawns after the 15-minute ceremony, Advani said, he expects them to sing the national anthem and not just listen to the bands playing next year.

Though the inspiration for the programme came from Advani, there were others contributors too.

The band was sent from the Delhi Police. Cameramen to record the function was courtesy the Indo-Tibetan Police Force. Eats came from the Central Reserve Police Force and the red carpet to the podium was lent by the Central Industrial Security Force.