Saturday, August 15, 2009

Happy Independence Day!

Last week Singapore saw its 44th National Day. Now it's India's turn. Today India celebrates its 63rd Independence Day. The day every Indian has to recall the history. The day every Indian has to understand the true meaning of independence. The day every Indian has to realise its current state.

Going back six decades to the past, I imagine how our ancestors faced the days in the clutches of britishers' hands. Innumerable sacrifices, countless martyr deaths, endless struggles. Some chose violence. Some chose non-violence. But their aims were same. Their goal was one. Freedom. The first thing that we have to mention is their vision. They dreamt of freedom. They foresaw their children's future. The next thing that cannot be spoken without appreciation is their courage. The courage to fight against the strong force in those days. The other thing was the unity. A bunch of religions, hundreds of languages and thousands of castes. Nevertheless they were united for one purpose. Freedom.

After so many struggles we finally got independence. But are we really maintaining that freedom? Aren't we misusing what we got? Making public nuisance through various crap banners on the roadsides, spitting on the roads, throwing rubbish wherever one feels like, illegal encroachment of lands, creating groupism reservation in the name of equal rights, fight for separate land, cutting down the trees for artificial development, excess usage of electricity & wastage of water all in the name of freedom and fundamental rights. Some of these activities are in fact now lead to global warming.

Let's keep aside these concerns. What about the strengths that our ancestors had? Do we have the vision about our future India? Do we have that courage to fight against the political corruption? Are we united to fight against the breeding terrorism? How strong are we to face the challenges thrown by the other world countries? These questions are not just to others but even to myself. I dont totally deny that we dont have these qualities. We definitely do have. Our country has very obviously seen a remarkable development in the last 62 years. It is not easy to achieve this development by any country that is vast in geographical area and home for rich and diversified cultures. That is India. In spite of various religions and innumerous races we are united always as one nation. Such is our achievement. Indians are shining not just in the other countries. But India itself is shining in the outer space of our planet Earth. While we have crossed various milestones in the past years we also have started laying foundations in different significant areas.

We are strong compared to hundreds of other countries in the world. In fact we are playing major role as advisories to many countries on the critical issues. But the strength that we have today is far less powerful than what our freedom fighters had at those times. Let's develop that courage and vision. Let's have strong unity in diversity. Let's be responsible Indians. Let's contribute our best to save the planet earth where we belong.

Vande Mataram! Jai Hind!!

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Perumal, Belated Happy Indian Independence Day.
I like the statement "We are strong compared with hundreds of other countries in the world". Good one.

Sesha said...

Hey peru, well said, most of these thoughts were in my mind as well..but you blogged them.. thats nice :)
Hope people start to realise the value of Freedom... i will too..

Raja said...

I never knew that you can think like these :) Nice article anyways.

Guru De Fundae said...

Very Nice article Peru. I specially liked the start where you really got me into the story. Well Done!!!

In the article you highlight a very important point that is to have a vision for the country. In my assessment of the Indian history, I think our ancestors lost a bit of vision once the country got independence. We had good leaders with a properly defined goal before Independence but they somewhat got berserk and did not realize where exactly to focus after Independence . We were an infant democracy then and could really have directed ourselves better through those times. The population and literacy would not have become huge problems as they are now.

Now, most advantageous thing that India now has is the stabilization of democracy. The infant is now not only a toddler but slowly ready to walk on his feet. Running is now far too. Here are some citations coming to my mind to some of the concerns that you have listed:

0. Do we have the vision about our future India?
--> Ex-president APJ Abdul Kalam has a perfect vision that would lead the country to prosperity through the PURA program. I think it's very important to empower the villages to achieve prosperity and growth. http://pura.org.in/default.htm

1. Do we have that courage to fight against the political corruption?
--> Right to Information (RTI) movement lead by Mr. Kejriwal is a valuable tool that would enable the masses fighting for their right and check corruption and other nuiscences.
http://righttoinformation.gov.in/

2. Are we united to fight against the breeding terrorism?
--> This is a new breed of problem facing not only India but the entire world and we should see some solutions coming in sooner than later. If setting up NSGs at various location is one step in the right direction. One has to see...

Peru said...

@Vinod, thanks pal.

@Raja, enna nakkalaa?? Evvalavo pannittom, idhu kooda pannamaatoma? ;)

@Sesha, I too hope so. thanks.

@Guru, thanks. Your views are really good. I just want to put forward some more points. Once upon a time an infant, India has now started to walk. No doubt, agreed. But at what pace? Take Singapore for an example. The country was poorer than India. Now it's one of the developed countries in the world and it's development pace is remarkable & amazing. Agreed that it's geographical area is smaller compared with India. But India too has hundreds of MPs and thousands of MLAs & corporators and councillors. Inspite, there is such a huge difference in the speed of development.

Dr.Kalam has a vision. There are only few people with such visions in our crowded country. Those VISIONs have to be actioned. But there needs to be interest and COURAGE to action those. Contribution by one person or a bunch of few people also is of no use. It has to be from a huge mass of people. And there needs to be UNITY for this. This is what I'm reiterating. There needs to be unity among us. Unity is already there outside India. But within the country, it is not strong. There are divisions/groupism based on the regions, languages, castes, etc. There is not fault in such groupisms. But unity among such groups are to be sought. Everyone include myself has a role in this.

My 2 cents :)

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