To me the Independence Day celebration memories are limited to my school only. As I never was an extrovert..I never participated in any other celebration outside school...such as the locality celebrations etc.
In school I always wanted to participate in different cultural activities whenever I got a chance mainly because of two reasons.....one.. I just loved to act and dance (though I was not very good at it) and two...it got me the always-so-welcome breaks form boring classes to go for the practice.
And Independence Day celebration was the most heartfelt one for me....well they gave me the "independence" from studies for a whole day at school! We used to go to a different venue outside the school where some other schools also used to come to participate in various cultural programs for the occasion. And unlike nowadays all inter-school activities didn't mean competition then. We just used to celebrate and enjoy the occasion together. I was all fun and laddoos.
Well, then I was a kid....with lesser knowledge of the "real" world outside...but now when I see the problems in sour society that only seems to grow bigger....such as female feoticide, oppression of women, increasing number of crime against women and children, deep rooted corruption, poverty which is ever growing (even after continuous efforts by our politicians to "Hatao" it), and many such issues they just make me feel anything but proud.
On the other hand I can't also ignore that India has made a remarkable progress in may other areas like we have made best progress in terms of sending children to school in the last five years, according to a recent report of the UNESCO. There have been drastic developments in infrastructure and Information Technology. But sending children to school is of no use if they get beaten up and harshly punished for trivial things which sometimes claim their life, as we often come to know through news. And again going to school would be of no use if there are no teachers to teach. According to a survey findings more than 25% teachers were found absent from work in primary schools in India.
Independence is when there is complete freedom of choice for each and every individual of the country. When there is no discrimination based on religion, region, cast, creed, sex, society and status. Independence is when every individual is allowed to choose what he/she wants to be, what they want to wear and how they want to live.
Independent society is one where the women feel safe and have the freedom to wear what they like and go where they want and when they want.
Independence is achieved when man, women, elders, disabled, children, poor, natives and visitors all are free form all fear, social restrictions and are allowed to breath in the air of freedom with equality.
I am sure we can achieve such an independence if we all strive to achieve the independence of our mind. A mind(set) that is free from obsolete social and cultural beliefs and practices. A mind that is free from gender bias, religious and cultural distances, self-pitying, and from the ideas of revenge and hatred.
With a hope in my heart for a better tomorrow and a pledge to make my own honest contributions to it I wish you all a very Happy Independence Day.
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