Indians all over the world are celebrating Independence Day with parties, bashes, meetings and what not. India celebrates her 61st year. And there is so much to celebrate. We are still a thriving economy despite all our setbacks. Our labour power is one of the most sought after in the world because we come skilled and cheap. We are making huge strides in terms of progress and development. The world has taken notice of this once poor country that is now making waves everywhere. We have won our first individual gold at the Olympics. We are to soon become a major nuclear power. Yes we must celebrate and I have begun to celebrate the Indian.
And yet, as I sat watching the Independence Day celebrations in college yesterday, a tiny bell rang in my mind that made me sit down and think today, the 15th of August, if we had really achieved what the forefathers of independent India dreamed about.
Is this the country that countless gave their lives for? Is this the India they envisioned? Is this the land of their dreams, the Promised Land? When Abdul Kalam extorts the youth to do better – is this really the country they are being asked to protect? Is this India shining?
Can this be the India our leaders envisaged: an India where blood still streams in the name of caste? An India where people shed lives so others may line pockets? Is this the country of our dreams? Can this be India shining?
Is this really the secular land of India where people are equal? But where they are equalised by being stripped of even the little they have? Where millionaires top the world’s statistics but where poverty continues to live among teeming millions? Can this certainly be the India envisaged by Chacha Nehru for the children- an India where statistics prove more than half of the children are sexually abused? Is this India shining?
Looking back and forward, I’m not certain if we should be really celebrating. Yes we have made strides, but not really big ones. There is much to despair of. We have yet to eliminate poverty and hunger. We have yet to become fully literate with just over half of the population having seen the portals of schools. We have certainly got a humongous challenge when it comes to the problem of corruption that has become a part of our daily lives. Abuse in all forms is alarmingly large. Disease is rampant and AIDS has got health officials concerned about the huge numbers succumbing. Violence and terrorism are part of our daily lives: today me, tomorrow you.
When I think back to the blood shed to get us to where we are today, frankly I’m ashamed to say I came of such great stock. What am I supposed to be proud of here? When I look at the happening generation of today, I can see far and wide a people plagued by mental and physical disease, a people enthusiastic about weekly and even daily booze parties, a people believing in the wonder of live-in lifestyles, a people eager to ape the brutalities and crimes of its western counterpart.
The Indian scenario, I’m sorry to say, holds very little to inspire. Thinking back to one of my favourite quotes etched on the Kohima War Memorial:
“ When you go home,/Tell them of us and say,/For theirs tomorrow,/We gave our today. ”
I salute the brave women and men who died for this country that I now live in. I realize this is not the land of your dreams, the land you believed in as you died. But as I reflect some more I can tell you this. This is the land of the likes of Abdul Kalam, A.R. Rahman, Rang De Basanti, Abhinav Binda, Manmohan Singh and Kiran Bedi. We may not be what you wanted us to be. But we are certainly not sitting back in comfortable armchairs, not all of us. To our mentors I say, we are not what you asked for, but we are what you got. We may not be the best, but we are certainly not the worst. We may slip and slide along the way but our destination is certain and we will make it there. To those who have laid down your lives for us, we are not yet there, but when we do get there, you will have reasons to smile and be proud because whatever we may be, we are still yours, we are still India.
Despite everything, still proud to be Indian.
Vande Mataram
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