What Independence means to YOU?

Although my friends try and pull a fast one me for the age that I have attained but I still remember very clearly, as if it was yesterday, the excitement of Independence Day as a school going kid. The zeal & enthusiasm of going to the school in spot white uniform & canvas shoes was phenomenal. The fact that we are free and nobody rules us anymore was a satisfaction in itself. Just the fact that I would be the part of the chorus singing “Sare Jahan Se Accha” or the National Anthem was a great pride in itself.

However as I grew up, the feeling slowly & gradually evaporated and I hit the ground reality.

We might have been freed by the foreign rule however there is no respite considering the people currently “Ruling” over us i.e. the various political parties. I am not inclined or biased towards any party however in the years that I grew up, when I could actually start exercising my mind and understand the current state of affairs somehow the scheme of things left a very bad taste in my mouth. Well the question arises what lead to us state of mind. When I see poor people around me, it really accelerates the agony within me. We consider ourselves as an “emerging power”, a few wise men have even predicted that India is going to be a superpower by 2025, giving China a run for their money. But if that where we really are heading to???

We have been the most coward set of people in the past few centuries, be it the various disturbances within our country (Maoists), ongoing Mumbai bomb blasts, terrorist attacks, infiltrations every now & then, attack on our Parliament, Khandhar hijacking, the list is endless. I remember having a conversation with one of my friend off late, wherein he was trying to oppose my viewpoints stating that we belong to the most “tolerant” school of thought.

Well I somehow beg to disagree and I don’t want to sound anti-Gandhi (gun-trotting fanatic) however “Enough is Enough”. There is no point being quiet or tolerant if someone is stepping on your toes. You got to fight back. We, including me are a community of spineless creatures, who would share the same viewpoint. Why, because we have a family to keep, an EMI to pay, old/aging parents to take care off, need to secure the future of our children, etc, etc. But where are we heading to??? Independence Day, are we really getting there, keeping in mind the true martyrs who really laid down their lives at the wink of an eye for this day!!!! I think we should at least utilize some time of particular this day for some real soul-searching and think/act over and above our day to day deliverables