National occasions

India has exactly three national holidays, and these are them. Every other public holiday is declared by a state or by a central government list that varies by office, which is why a colleague in Kerala and one in Punjab often have different days off.

Republic Day marks 26 January 1950, when the Constitution came into force and India became a republic. Independence Day marks 15 August 1947. Gandhi Jayanti is Gandhi's birth anniversary on 2 October, observed by the United Nations as the International Day of Non-Violence.

They are dry days and gazetted holidays

All three are gazetted holidays across the country, and all three are dry days in most states, with alcohol sales suspended. Offices, schools and residential societies usually hold a flag hoisting in the morning. The protocol differs between the two: the President unfurls the flag at the Republic Day parade in Delhi, while the Prime Minister hoists it at the Red Fort on Independence Day.

What to write

Civic days invite a different register from festivals. Pride works; so does gratitude towards people who serve. What reads badly is anything that turns the day into a sale, a slogan about one political party, or a wish that treats the anniversary as a holiday rather than a date.

For a message that carries weight, name what the day actually commemorates. "Happy Republic Day" is fine on its own, but "76 years since the Constitution came into force" tells the reader you know which of the two days this is, which more people get wrong than you would expect.

If you are writing to armed forces families, the memorial days in the calendar are a more fitting place for that message.