Musings
on the 72 nd Independence Day
Abraham Lincoln’ Gettysburg address started with “Four score and seven
years ago, our forefathers brought forth on this continent a new nation…:” I am
no Lincoln nor shall I ever be called to deliver the World Gettysburg address
like what Lincoln did in 1863. Since I am yet to touch four score years, I will
conveniently drop it and start my musings on the Independence day with “ Seven
years ago…” Before you wonder what am I going to say about 2011( seven years ago) as nothing
sensational happened then, I will relieve you of your curiosity as seven years
ago, before we got our Independence, I was born. To be more precise, seven
years and two days ago I was born on the 13th, i.e., an unfortunately
reviled number in most cultures except in Hinduism and in Greek belief. In Hindu
mythology it is dedicated to Lord Shiva (tryodashi) who blesses the 13th born
person with health, prosperity and happiness while the Greeks associate it with
their most powerful God Zeus the 13th
in their pantheon, symbol of incorruptible power and divinity. Being born in a Hindu family and having a love
for Greek culture, I preferred to consider myself akin to Shiva and Zeus and
not to Judas the 13th disciple who betrayed his master, Jesus.
Birthday celebrations in my early
years were never there. In those days one day wass like any other day and therefore
no special significance was to be attached to the day you were thrown into
existence. But for me all this changed in my later years, It was a
serendipitous coincidence that my birth star also came on the15th august
one particular year(though I don’t recall when it was). My father,a patriot to
the core decided to celebrate 15th august as my birthday that year .It gave me a feeling of greatness and
excitement that I was born on Independence day and that I would soar high as a
free bird like Livingstone’s seagull. It was certainly a feeling of “Bliss was
it in that dawn to be alive/ But to be young was very heaven…” That was 71
years ago. Meantime my hospital records showed that I was 13th born.
With the passage of time, the period of
youth changed and so was the joyous spirit of inhaling freedom.
Three score and eleven years have gone since that blissful dawn. The
world has changed and life today moves at a faster pace than we would have
dreamt. In many respects we are almost free from diseases like TB, Cholera, Small pox etc
though other lifestyle induced diseases have been on the rise. Medical
advancement has given us better longevity, though one cannot say better living
conditions especially to many who are in the lower income bracket. More schools
have been opened but we are not free from illiteracy among million children in the rural and tribal areas. A large number
of colleges and universities have been set up but our young men and women do not
get quality education. We have had no famine since Independence though we are
still not free from want . Our economy is better today; but 1% of our
population has grown richer and holds 58% of the gross wealth of the nation
while a large majority with less than 800 Rs per month are not free from hunger
and poverty. We are not free of dirt and squalor, nor are we free from mental,
moral and monetary corruption. Our law and
order situation is passable, but for women and children, there is no freedom to
live without fear and insecurity. The
horrors of partition that posed a threat to communal harmony were replaced in
the early years after independence by honouring the age old principles of
secularism and pluralism to bind the nation together but seventy one years later
the nation is witness to a re run of communal strife and casteist violence.
India, racing to adopt modernity is being dragged by two thousand years to follow
irrational and superstitious rituals with a past forward movement towards anti-diluvian
beliefs. Indian independence that ushered in democracy is now slowly yielding
to mobocracy.
There is no denying the intelligence of the Indian mind, but it mainly
serves foreign lands where the Indian Diaspora has made a name for itself. Our
scientists can successfully send an Indian into space, but for a very large
majority of those who stay put on the Indian soil, liberation from clogged
minds, from illiteracy, from unemployment, from illness, hunger and poverty, from violence engendered by
casteism and communalism still remains a distant dream.
As I inch my way to four score years, I have just one dream, one song
to sing, one wish to be fulfilled, one prayer to make. I dream of a return to those
glorious years of nascent freedom when we were all fired by a feverish desire
to make “Mere Bharat Mahan”(Make my India Great)’
I have a song once more to sing
with all earnestness- the song that brought tears to the eyes of Pt. Nehru and
millions of Indians
Aaaa... Aaaa
aye mere vatan ke
logon (Hey People of my country)
tum khoob laga lo
naara (sing the slogans)
ye shubh din hai ham
sab ka(Thi s is an auspicious day for us)
lahara lo tiranga
pyaara(Let our lovely tricolor (flag) be hoisted
par mat bhoolo seema
par(But don't forget that at the border
veeron ne hai praan
ganvaaye(Brave soldiers haves sacrificed their lives)
kuch yaad unhein bhi
kar lo(Let us remember them)…
I have a wish that we are all liberated from prejudice and hatred, from
ignorance and mindlessness, and remember to cultivate the wisdom of Rabindranath Tagore
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.
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.
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