ONE DAY MATRAM .... :(

YOU PICKED ME OFF THE STREET
SMEARED ME ACROSS YOUR CHEEKS
PINNED ME ON YOUR SHIRT
A DAY LATER, I WAS TORN AND FORGOTTEN


----  THE TRICOLOUR

Yeah this post by Terribly Tiny Tales made me inspired to write about Independence Day.
We have gained freedom from the so called British Raj but what have we done with our independence? It has been 69 years since we have gained independence. We are a free nation now. But still after so many years, the question remains the same. 
""ARE WE REALLY INDEPENDENT??""
Are we free to do and support what is right? 
Are we independent to voice ourselves against the politicians or wrong doers without being threatened? 
Are our children free from our super imposed expectations? 
Are the labourers free to send their children to schools? 
Are the Indian women independent to walk around in the park at night? 

Wouldn’t you all agree when I say that these are all rhetorical questions?

Independence Day nowadays is no less than a one day festival like diwali or holi where we celebrate that very day and forget everything the next day and follow our old normal routine.
Like take example of Diwali or Ganesh Chaturthi where we bring one or more Gods into limelight, with all habiliments around it and performed ceremonies which apparently showed our devotion. So then, I would wonder, what about the other 364 days? 
Same is followed with Independence day where we just sing one or two songs, show respect to our national flag and anthem, pay tribute to our national fighters and then again next day life would go back to its previous old pace with no communal sense.
We would just go to our school or colleges, be a part of a patriotic program, watch the flag being hoisted by principal or director and then come home to a day filled with back to back patriotic movies, enjoy munchies and Coke and probably an afternoon nap too!  This is just bullshit. Showing to the world your patriotism just for one day wont lead you anywhere. 
We have advanced and developed more than many other countries freed from colonial masters during the same time as us. We proudly claim that we are independent from a foreign rule but we are still not free from jealousy, intolerance and hatred towards our fellow countrymen. We are full of bitterness towards other religions, traditions and always try to suppress the growth of the other. We often tend to forget that independence is not only making yourself free but making others also live freely as they desire.

We are tied in boundaries of religion, casteism, communal violence, corruption, false ideologies, class, safety and harmony, hindered development and what not. The list is endless. Safety has become a utopian word today for us. Cases and violation of women’s rights are seen in the newspaper every day. Not a single day passes without the news of a crime against women. The irony is that the country which respects itself portraying it as a woman, Bharat Mata (Mother India), is the one where the women is not safe. Living in harmony is another distant dream. Communal riots and brutal crimes have uprooted the concept of living in harmony. India is independent, yet its citizens are not independent to fly like a free bird. It has become a place where you cannot trust your neighbour. And if you are living in a metro city, I doubt if you even know who your neighbours are!
No doubt we are independent but monetarily paralyzed. We do not think independently, we often think what others make us think.

At every turn, our capabilities as a nation are being questioned. We are facing roadblocks. Not at the higher level, but at the grass root level itself. From problems like lack of proper infrastructure and our inability to move the concerned authorities, to safety of our daughters. When we think of all the bad things that have happened, they outnumber the good. Our belief that we are ‘one’, is at stake. Our forefathers who led us, often mentioned the need for us to walk together. Catch hold of the brothers who have been left behind and bring them forward. But today we have become so self centered. A high degree of superiority complex runs in our blood. My family, me and our happiness. Is this how a society exists? We fail to understand that it is the Indian humility that sets us apart. But where is it gone today?

All this really makes one think that are we really independent? Are we a free nation? Are we worthy of any praise?

These are haunting questions which we may hesitate to answer but they are standing in our way of success and have to be answered as soon as possible. A unified India should come together to answer these questions as this is not a job of one individual but the whole nation.

It would be unfair to say that that we cannot do anything because when we Indians decide to do something then nothing is impossible for us. It is just a momentary laziness and lack of encouragement that has led to such a situation. So I call upon all the people especially the youth of the nation, on this Independence Day, to come forward and break all the shackles to make the country truly independent and free.

Everyone should pledge to work towards the development of India in a true sense and make India – a place full of love and happiness and mark it as a successful nation on the world map. Only then, will we be independent in true sense of the term.

"When none of the poor children sell flags on the roads on independence day, then proudly say that you are independent."