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Its a day of mixed feelings. It was much simpler when I was a kid. Back in the school days, 15th August was always associated with joy and celebrations. Neatly dressed in whites and wearing the immaculate white shoes polished diligently the previous night, we reached the school play ground earlier than the usual. One could feel the air of festivity as we were rushed to stand in line for the flag hoisting program. Ad mist the murmurs of the students with occasional hushes and teachers with a cane in the hand patrolling the ground, we used to watch the decoration of the dais unfolding.
A cloth banner with the map of India is neatly hung at the center of the dais, with the support of three vertically arranged school benches. The tri colors of Indian flag appear inside the map, with the wheel appearing at the center, contrasting sharply with the white color of the cloth banner. The flag pole located right next to the dais is neatly decorated with the three colors. And the flag is already mounted at the top, waiting to be hoisted by the chief guest of the function. The flag hoisting, the patriotic songs, speeches by teachers and students followed by snacks distribution formed the core of the event. We rushed back to home happily munching the snacks that usually consisted of some mixture and a sweet. It was such a simple life. What a joy that was!
As the years went by, my association with Independence day has been mixed. Thats why they say ignorance is bliss. Though I still get goosebumps whenever I hear a moving patriotic song, there are hundred questions swarming in my mind. What are we celebrating? Why are we celebrating in spite of the fact that millions of people in the country are undernourished while the food grains in Government godowns are left to rot and perish? Millions of people do not have access to clean water, proper housing, minimum medical facilities, basic education and many more. How did the liberation of India from the British freed the common man from these problems?
The dynasty that ruled this country for more than ninety percent of the time after independence spear headed by the mindless and useless ideologies of one man, sucked the blood out of every Indian only to satisfy his egoistic ecstasy. The unhealed wound inflicted by partition and its aftermath is only one of the nightmares manifested due to the zillion blunders committed by him and the party. Yet, they have no self respect and continue to feed on the corpses left behind after the catastrophic and systematic misgovernance of the country. While his daughter hurled us into a bigger misery with her tyrannical regime, the current queen controls the whole country through a puppet. As we enter the 65th anniversary of our independence, the prince is getting ready to get his share of this idiosyncrasy and we, as people, are thoughtless, shameless and spineless to allow it to happen. The opposition is in a bigger shamble in itself giving unquestioning liberty to the puppet and its masters to loot whatever is left in the country.
Our generation, including me, has no self respect. We always want to be in the safety net, have good careers and good pay cheque. It is 100% our fault that we are allowing the criminals to rule the country. We will continue to rot under the same system and we will continue to complain. Thats how we are and thats what we are.
Enough of my pessimistic outburst. Happy independence day! See this amazing video: The Silent Indian National Anthem (read about the video here).
