Author: Meghna Nijhawan
Publication: NDTV.com
Date: August 17, 2017
URL:   http://www.ndtv.com/offbeat/lakhs-shared-photo-of-flag-hoisting-in-assam-this-is-why-it-was-taken-1738850?pfrom=home-topstories

The photo has been shared over a lakh times on Facebook and was part of countless WhatsApp forwards.

In the last couple of days, you may have either shared or seen on your newsfeeds the viral photo of the Indian flag being unfurled in a submerged Assam school on Independence Day.

As a teacher unfurls the flag, two little boys raise their hands in salute, their head and shoulders barely above water in one of the many districts flooded across the state.

The photo was first shared on Facebook on Tuesday by Mizanur Rehman, an assistant teacher at Naskara Lower Primary School in Dhubri. By the end of the day, the image had captured the nation's attention and had also been carried by international news websites.

The photo has been shared over a lakh times on Facebook and was part of countless WhatsApp forwards.

"I'm the assistant (sic) teacher at this school, school name...1185 No. Naskara LP school.. under Fakirganj Police station. Dhubri....no need to tell how we are right now, pic will tell all the stories...I did not expect this kind of support....thank you all for sharing this picture," wrote Mizanur Rehman in a caption accompanying the picture.

------------------------------
Happy independence day to all.....
 I m the asstt teacher at this school, school name...1185 No. Naskara LP school.. under Fakirganj Police station. Dhubri....no need to tell how we are right now, pic will tell all the stories...i did not expect this kind of support....thank you all for sharing this picture
------------------------------

The story behind the photograph has now been revealed.

According to a state rule, every event at a government school has to be documented with photographs and this photo was taken to be sent to the state education department in Guwahati. The young students in the photograph were chosen because they can swim. As the four sang the national anthem and vande mataram, the remaining students and teachers watched them from higher ground outside the school.