Tiranga, the national-flag of India means the flag with three colours. But, it has in fact four colours. The fourth colour blue often remains unmentioned by the people.
The ‘Chakra’ on the middle band of the flag in blue with its 24 spokes denotes continual progress of the country. The blue signifies the limit of progress, which is deemed as boundless as the blue sky above and as fathomless as the deep blue of the high seas.
The Tiranga was hoisted for the first time on the ramparts of the Red Fort on August 16, 1947 and not on August 15, 1947 as is commonly believed.
The Tiranga has the rare honour of being hoisted on the highest peak of the world, the Mount Everest eleven times till date. No other national flag has this honour.
The common practice is to fly only one national flag on any building. There is, however, one building in the country where four national flags are flown at a time every day. This privileged building is the parliament of India. It is so, because of its huge circular structure with no central dome. Therefore, four flags one in each direction East, West, North and South are flown.
The tallest flag-mast in the country is about 138 feet at fort Saint George, Madras (Chennai) on which the Tiranga proudly flies.
