INDEPENDENCE DAY: What Do We Give Others?

Part 2

Image Courtesy: Indu

I would say it's a lack of true vision that makes these contemporary critics of this once great nation babble about status quo when a majority of people die of lack of food and violence committed on the streets. Let's face the reality. None of us, including this humble author, is not talking about what really matters. Within the Indian geo-political context the term ‘independence’ has a different significance now than that it previously had, say ten years back. India has changed in ways that would help write a new future for this country. This point in time and space in the story of India, one must look carefully for a more fulfilling meaning for “independence.”  

It is not political independence that matters anymore. Mostly because political independence is as much an illusion as the thought of a distinct national identity. Everyone, instead, must feel something personally connecting with this thought, “independence”. To be independent, as we all realize by now, is not to depend on anyone else. It also belongs to the same old category-illusions. Perhaps, a term that stands closer to the notion that I would like my nation to use this weekend is 'self-reliance'.  

Image courtesy: Google

India is celebrating its 69th day of independence. Years back, we were a colony of Britain. Years before that, our forefathers lived in relative violence still, committed upon them by their own brethren. At least with the British, we had an external invader to fight back, to rightfully channel our hatred and anger. 

Temporarily, at least, India has been under the Raj. One of the most important contributions or rather let’s say cultural traces left by the British was English language. The bridges, roads, and railroad facility the Empire left behind were immensely useful too, for the emerging India to construct the base for its growth. What must the 69th Independence Day instil in us, not just the people of India, but whoever touched, at least once, by this great nation and its culture? 

To be contd.