Its plastered everywhere. Songs, flags, slogans..I am being wished by my countrymen and yet I do not feel it. I do not feel I am from an independent country. After 63 years of our so called independence, we still are cluttered and confused, in fact in more ways than what existed back then..
Every anniversary, one old man will be remembered by most in the media for his over hyped ways of contribution and the rest of them will be conveniently forgotten. Children sing songs, enact plays from pre-independent eras, hoist flags, eat sweets and go home to a national media that is hell bent on manipulating viewer content according to their profit charts. Don't get me wrong, these acts will help children remember the struggle but will this show them the reality? The present that is screaming out for help?
Year after year, its all done in a wish, but are we truly independent? Not everyone feel they live in democratic country because they are bound by a million problems all of which manifest from a regime so senseless in varied facets. Are we free of a multitude of socio-economic and political problems that could and should have been addressed already? We drown in corruption and uptight bureaucracy run by umpteen number of selfish, power hungry uneducated fools and yet we sing of a victory that was attained a lil' more than half a century ago with great difficulty, endurance and time..
I think we still have a lot to fight for, as this day really means nothing to more than 3/4th of India, most who will be happy to feed a morsel to their malnourished kid just like another day, most who will be glad if they did not have to pay their salaries worth to get a simple seal from the government and some who will feel blessed if their merit was recognised and not their economic/socio-cultural backgrounds. While the more 'fortunate' souls bless the holiday if its on a week day and enjoy it in a cafe equally plastered with an overdose of patriotic symbols. We are satisfied with the malls that get bigger and personal pay checks that can afford them. We aren't afraid to encourage corruption because we see the one standing next to us and think that's the way world works. But is it?!
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| Lead from darkness to light.. |
We might have let this detail slip through before, but let us no more.. Let us each do our part righteously and take time to help our neighbours do the same. There is nothing a common man can't achieve through his common ways that can bring about an uncanny change to the current situation. The common man just needs the support of another common man. Lets put a foot down and not enter the gate guarded by the satan's sentry. It will take time and it will be painful but it will be worth the trouble. If we yield to the easy route now, we will be answerable to the future generation who will not only be born in the trammels of vanity but also will have to live with such fate, and evil only worsens with time unless treated otherwise.
Of course I am not saying the whole of India can do this at once. Its unreasonable to expect everyone to reason in terms of the benefit for future, but if one can take time to educate and help people in their surroundings, homely neighbourhoods will slowly lead the way to a beautiful country-free and prosperous. It will not happen in a year or two.. It may take decades, but if we do not start even now, then we really fail as patriots, fail those who fought for an independent India and no amount of calling out slogans or remembering their achievements on National holidays will prove it otherwise.
All we have to do is start, stick to our ideals and spread the thought in whatever responsible way we see fit. Let us bring a change together in the hope that such time shall mightily arrive when our children can grow up in a free country-free(even if not completely) of all the negatives that has bound us today in shackles, such time when they will really empathize and appreciate the blood and sweat of all those great heroes who dreamt and sacrificed for a FREE INDIA, such time when western tourists are no longer looking to photograph award winning 'art' pictures of dusty markets, slums and their inhabitants fighting for survival. Let the disparity amongst people end. Let democracy be a word understood and respected by all. Let Independence Day mean to everyone.
And to all those who want to argue that it cannot happen because of a countless reasons, first dethrone that negativity from your brain. If our fighters had thought like you then we'd still be wiping slime off a British foot. For once, plant a positive seed and just nurture it, you will find a countless reasons to believe there is light at the end of the tunnel. And as a derived version from Charles Tindley's gospel song goes-
We shall overcome
We shall overcome
We shall overcome some day
Oh deep in my heart, I do believe,that,
We shall overcome some day....
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| Let's help ourselves..Jai Hind. |
aeroyogi
15/08/2010
