Independence!

My country is celebrating its 72nd Independence. After being captive for over 200 years by Britishers we finally got liberated. Free India is the largest democratic country the world has seen.

East India Company entered India in the name of trade but slowly was mesmerized by the culture and richness we had in the form of gold, spices etc and suddenly the equation was changed and we were their captives with no FREEDOM. It is just like a guest entering your home and bhoo tells that your home in mine from now and it’s my rule!

We fought long battles, marched a thousand miles, sacrificed million people to get back our voice and rights which was snatched from our own land. ( such an irony !). So finally we got Independence but are we really Independent?

We have got the freedom to choose, freedom to speak, freedom to express, freedom to dress, freedom to write, freedom of expression, freedom of choice and what not? Are we channelizing this spirit of Independence in the right direction?

“ I want to be Independent” is the most common phrase I get to hear from all. We have got it 72 years back! What is that Independence we are still searching for? Most of us don’t understand the meaning of it or think that we know what it is but not in reality! According to me:

Independence is when- You have the abundance of wisdom and choose to share with someone who wants it!
Independence is when- You make a choice to stay back home on a Monday morning when your mother needs you!
Independence is when- You call your friend at 3 in the morning when he/she wants to suggestion!
Independence is when- You can shout out loud and say to the world that they are bad but still choose to be silent thinking of things that were great!
Independence in when- You give your books and clothes to that little girl who comes with your home maid!
Independence is when-You hold the bag of that school kid in the bus who is struggling to stand!
Independence is when- You share your cupcake with the boy who is looking from the window!
Independence is when- Seeta gets to study in the same school as her brother!
Independence is when- Meera can go out and work as her husband Madhav!
Independence is when- Raju choose to stay back to look after the kid leaving his wife to attend the meeting! and many more real-life situations which have always given us the freedom to showcase our Independence but are we doing it?

One of my favorite stanza from Gitanjali ( written by Rabindranath Tagore) says:

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake!

Happy Independence!