Independence Day

[Ya I know 15th August was 10 days ago but home comp's not working, so couldn't post]

Well its just Independence Day and not 'happy independence day' or 'another independence day', because what's added before or after depends on a lot of things. Of course I don't wish to get into that. Why the nick then? Well every time Independence Day comes around I feel its like a birthday. The one day everyone contemplates something about their life. Either the previous year or the last few years or their whole life or the coming year or coming whole life. That's but natural, seeing the sort of day it is. But somehow everytime Independence Day comes around, I actually think about India, its 'freedom', the struggles of its people in the past and the present, etc etc.

Of course not much changes every year - I end up thinking of corrupt politicians, scams, over population, illiteracy, schemes that never seem to work, poverty, unemployment, farmers who commit suicide, slum lords, and a whole list of everything that's wrong with this country - to that list, this year I have added floods and bomb blasts too.
I don't believe this is the India our forefathers envisioned. I don't think this is the India anyone wanted or even wants. Sure we are shining, sure we are the rising star, sure we get compared to China but what are the ground realities? How many Indians are happy? How many Indians are free? Is the India of 2006, the India freedom fighters died for? Are we today worthy of those people dreams, aspirations, hope, death?

The biggest tragedy of it all is that we are part of a county that has such a rich heritage. Such a deep history. A culture that could surpass many, and we do nothing with that. Our past is something we see no value in. Neither do we appreciate the past nor do we think enough about it. Take a small example of yoga. How many of us here are gaga over yoga? Yoga is getting a real hype now only because its gone to the west and become so famous amongst the westerners. We are a totally useless bunch...

The British might have taken a lot away from us, but like the irony that life sometimes like to throw in our face - our strongest weapon in today's economic warfare is something the British bought to us and gave us, whether we wanted it or not - the English language. Haha I cant wait to see China in the next 5 - 8 years, when majority of their 'contributing' population will be english speaking. Where will India be? Watching on TV how members in the Lok Sabha throw things on one another, not able to watch TV because some dude things that everything should be censored, shitting bricks cause we will be importing not only wheat but other food grains too...

We could also have an India that is actually flourishing. An India that thriving. An India that the rest of the world is jealous of. What do we need to get there? I think there is only one thing needed - accountability in our political system. You don't do your job well, your outta here. If we don't have strong, charismatic, visionary leaders, we wont get anywhere.


On the note of freedom - What is freedom anyway? I don't seem to be able to figure. In my mind one has freedom only when one can live life on his/her own terms. How many of us can do that? Very few I think. Sometimes it's not possible to be free, but unfortunately most of us believe that we don't need such freedom. Everything else must come before self. I don't believe in this philosophy. The 'Individual' must come before everything else. By the self coming first here I don't mean politicians filling their pockets. It's all about knowing who you are and standing up for who you are. Fighting for what you believe in. Being open minded enough to take the world in but also being tolerant enough to realise that the world doesn't revolve around you. Buckling down under pressure because other people say something or believe something is not cool. Its not something anyone should accept. Actually nothing should just be accepted. Everything must be realised. Haha, I can already imagine my mom and aunts cringing... we have no future I tell you, not unless we start thinking differently.

Anyway I'm going on a totally different tangent here - will write something more on 'independence day' sometime in the future. Maybe next year....