Probably countries which got freedom in last 25-30 years may be able to tell us something about it feels to be free rather than governed by an outsider. Iraqis can tell us better as many of them feel and believe it was better to be tortured and living in constant fear with curbed rights under Saddam Hussein than nuts like Americans ruling their lives. As the popular saying in India goes, a cruel, crooked son living under same roof is always better than an adoring, caring and lovely son-in-law under same roof.
Our generation or the generation succeeding us will not see it as any moment to celebrate. Do we still need to celebrate it? It’s a blasphemous thought. Had any politician reverberated such thought, it would have meant the end of his political career. Personally for me and I guess for many amongst us, that it is the day when we relax and have an assured holiday. Holiday also is lost this time as I have my Saturday off otherwise as well. A welcome break from our bored routine. The time when we can look for some real deal steals in the malls and shopping areas. But this time, the bloody scary of Swine Flu will keep shoppers off, esp. in Maharashtra. There are few guys like my pa, who have to get up early in the morning on Independence Day dressed in their finest to unfurl the Flag in their Institution, Organization. I really wanted to go for the ceremony during my University days but realized I was an hour late due to my sleep.
The only time of the Year when Indians realize that sixty-seventy years ago, this country was ruled by Britishers. What is the point of this freedom when we throw few intelligent foreigners out of the country in order to allow buffoons from our society to destroy (we cannot say, reshape over here) our lives? Now also India’s political and economic concerns in this globalized world where every big city has certain importance on the global stage can be handled and taken care off in isolation. But India still has to listen and comply to the diktats of the powerful western nations. The only right we have earned because of the independence is the right to shit and pee at the place of our choice. I don’t know or understand whether we are becoming complementary or supplementary to the world powers or are we losing our rights and our Independence (not as I am saying but as independence is perceived to be).
The only good point is that Indians get to hear their National Anthem, which we generally forget after our teenage days. Jana Mana Ga is one amongst few the common thread which stands amongst all the Indians. Rest everything has some kind of farcical thought attached to it. It is also the time when we lament on the fact what Independence meant for a Citizen in India?
The songs dedicated to the nation are played continuously throughout the day. Manoj Kumar always comes alive on screen on August 15. He is assured of his place in history. People realize saffron, white and green are sexy colours and you look good in it and the same time can promote the cause of saying, ‘I am Indian’, do you hear that (all the MCs, BCs standing across the bend of the street), “I am an Indian”. There are special features every year in newspapers, magazines and books released on what have we achieved in 55, 56, 57 ,58………….. this year it’s 62 years of independence. Do we have achieved? I don’t think much has been done at any point in last sixty years. The way India has grown socially, economically, politically. Socially the condition has only gone poor. Economically we are better because we had gone from worse to worst in first 25 years. Otherwise it is not remarkable. Politically we have deteriorated to the point of no return. We have more number of people without electricity than in 1947, we have more people falling under BPL (below poverty line) tha in 1947, we have increased food grains production but still falls short for a 1050 million mouth’s to feed. We have more buildings, highways, expressways but still more people living without a roof on their heads. We have more intelligent and educated people but still lesser jobs for them. The only area where India has made a significant progress is the POPULATION and burglary of the nation. Where nation becomes a country. Its like a body without a soul. I know it is not lost but we are not far from it.
Our generation or the generation succeeding us will not see it as any moment to celebrate. Do we still need to celebrate it? It’s a blasphemous thought. Had any politician reverberated such thought, it would have meant the end of his political career. Personally for me and I guess for many amongst us, that it is the day when we relax and have an assured holiday. Holiday also is lost this time as I have my Saturday off otherwise as well. A welcome break from our bored routine. The time when we can look for some real deal steals in the malls and shopping areas. But this time, the bloody scary of Swine Flu will keep shoppers off, esp. in Maharashtra. There are few guys like my pa, who have to get up early in the morning on Independence Day dressed in their finest to unfurl the Flag in their Institution, Organization. I really wanted to go for the ceremony during my University days but realized I was an hour late due to my sleep.
The only time of the Year when Indians realize that sixty-seventy years ago, this country was ruled by Britishers. What is the point of this freedom when we throw few intelligent foreigners out of the country in order to allow buffoons from our society to destroy (we cannot say, reshape over here) our lives? Now also India’s political and economic concerns in this globalized world where every big city has certain importance on the global stage can be handled and taken care off in isolation. But India still has to listen and comply to the diktats of the powerful western nations. The only right we have earned because of the independence is the right to shit and pee at the place of our choice. I don’t know or understand whether we are becoming complementary or supplementary to the world powers or are we losing our rights and our Independence (not as I am saying but as independence is perceived to be).
The only good point is that Indians get to hear their National Anthem, which we generally forget after our teenage days. Jana Mana Ga is one amongst few the common thread which stands amongst all the Indians. Rest everything has some kind of farcical thought attached to it. It is also the time when we lament on the fact what Independence meant for a Citizen in India?
The songs dedicated to the nation are played continuously throughout the day. Manoj Kumar always comes alive on screen on August 15. He is assured of his place in history. People realize saffron, white and green are sexy colours and you look good in it and the same time can promote the cause of saying, ‘I am Indian’, do you hear that (all the MCs, BCs standing across the bend of the street), “I am an Indian”. There are special features every year in newspapers, magazines and books released on what have we achieved in 55, 56, 57 ,58………….. this year it’s 62 years of independence. Do we have achieved? I don’t think much has been done at any point in last sixty years. The way India has grown socially, economically, politically. Socially the condition has only gone poor. Economically we are better because we had gone from worse to worst in first 25 years. Otherwise it is not remarkable. Politically we have deteriorated to the point of no return. We have more number of people without electricity than in 1947, we have more people falling under BPL (below poverty line) tha in 1947, we have increased food grains production but still falls short for a 1050 million mouth’s to feed. We have more buildings, highways, expressways but still more people living without a roof on their heads. We have more intelligent and educated people but still lesser jobs for them. The only area where India has made a significant progress is the POPULATION and burglary of the nation. Where nation becomes a country. Its like a body without a soul. I know it is not lost but we are not far from it.
Independence was not an easy process, it was probably the most painful process. Bharat gained independence sans its limbs to be called India. It was a moment for political revolutionaries, there motives and wishes were fulfilled. But ordinary Indians were wailing and mourning. Somehow I don’t know why I feel more. May be because I belong to Punjab where you still meet people who say their grandfather had spent the good years of his life in Lahore, where they were caught into ambush fires against Britishers not for drawing a line across the Earth. But for the exit of Britishers from the mass piece of land called Bharat.
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