When four young, visually challenged artistes, wished to explore the sounds that evoke peace and unity, they listened to the reverberation of everyday objects. The best have made it to a 52-second instrumental version of the national anthem, titled Jan Gan Man Natural Instrumental. By choosing a song written in Bengali by India's first Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in 1911, they embraced the spirit of cultural unity that the composition espouses. But, their tribute on India's 71st Republic Day today, becomes more fitting because of their choice of untreated objects as instruments—twigs, bamboo sieves, coconut shells, pebbles, water in bowls, food grains, and a stone silbatta (mortar pestle). Although written way before Independence, the song envisages India as a joyful union of dissimilar cultures, languages, race and religion. The video urges us to appreciate the diversity in both, human interactions and acoustic opportunities.

"We chose organic recyclable material, all in perfect harmony with nature. There is nothing synthetic or plastic about what we have made music from," says Manashri Soman, 27, who features in the video released by Mumbai-based Shreerang Charitable Trust, which works with differently-abled persons in the arts. Soman is a 2004 Bal Shree awardee, sightless since birth, featured in a novel and documentary film (both titled Manashri) for her exceptional courage to lead a rockstar life despite the physical odds. A Sangeet Visharad in music, Soman is a singer and harmonium player. She juggles her musical passion with a day job at a bank. She says, "We cannot watch the video, of course. But Indians everywhere will see how we have explored the spirit of the anthem through the prism of untapped sounds."