– Mahatma Gandhi
The day when a nation become self-reliant; when the voices of people can be heard from now on, when all country men unite together for a celebration of success. Having the freedom of making our own decisions, taking responsibility of our actions & being free from all the rules (made by other country people) that is what we call Independence. Sacrifices of great people, lots of bloodshed to win a revolution (or war), protest to protect our own culture, language & ideas when all the people think same eventually the Independence comes.
On its 68th Independence, Celebrations will be all over India starting with National Flag hosting (by Prime Minister) at Red Fort, performances at schools & colleges, different singing & dance shows to pre-history discussions on TV channels, enjoying the national holiday has become just a holiday where people end up with movie shows, dinner at restaurants, long-drives, drinking with friends etc.
Independence Day incites the inner-strength to be proud to be an Indian which slowly fades away from our mind until the next one comes. The day with all the positiveness, when we can start from the beginning. People fly the tri-color, sing the national anthem. Foreign delegates participate to enjoy with us; A guard of honor (A salute of 21 guns) is given by the local police & armed personnel. It’s about reminding those patriots who suffered so that we can feel free, we can rejoice & we can take enthusiasm to defend our freedom for the rest of our lives.
Are we ashamed of being Indians?
- May be that’s why we want to leave our country for a better life, a good career or get a degree at foreign universities
- May be that’s why we pretend to be Englishmen (Do we feel shame to speak in our native languages) in front of our friends group?
- May be that’s why we prefer Jeans, Top, Shirt the most instead of Dhoti, Punjabi (most of us don’t wear on occasions) etc.
- May be that’s why we prefer to visit Mcdonalds, KFC, Food courts instead of going to a Indian Restaurant
- May be that’s why we (most of the younger generation) prefer to listen English songs instead of Hindi or regional songs. & the Main reason is
- Do we really feel shame when someone is asking for help & you strictly avoid (That’s an European Culture); we see when someone gets raped, when someone gets shot, we fear to protest again illegal things, we don’t want to indulge in public affairs just to stay safe
Then you need not to be...... because INDIA,
- Being the largest democracy, we have 4 world major religions – Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism
& Sikhism
- Due to its lingual, cultural & religious diversity, 30 languages are spoken by more than a million people & 122 by more than 10,000
- We have the biggest gathering (about 100 million) in Kumbh Mela Festival which can be seen from space
- Chess, Algebra, Trigonometry, Calculas, Ayurveda, Surgery, Quadratic Equations, pi (the value) which originated in India
- We have the largest cricket ground, longest bridge, maximum number of post offices, 8th largest employer in Indian Railways & 9th largest in Indian Army
- We were one of the richest countries before British rule, even before 1896 India was the only source of diamonds in the world.
- We have 3 lakhs active mosques in India more than any other country including the Muslim ones. (Please think over this before you avoid or doubt a Muslim from the next time)
- Even Martial Arts & Yoga has its origins in India.
- We have never invaded any other country to prove its military dominance.
- India has the 2nd largest pool of Scientists & Engineers in the world.
- We have produced
- Greatest Thinkers like- Gandhi, Chankya, Ashoka etc
- Greatest Players like- Sachin Tendulkar, Dhyan Chnad, Tenjing Norgay, P.T.Usha, Viswanathan Anand etc.
- Greatest Actors like- Irrfan Khan, Amitabh Bacchan, Dilip Kumar, Anupam Kher etc
- Greatest Scientists like- C.V.Raman, Satyendranath Bose, Meghnad Saha, A.P.J Abbdul Kalam etc
- Greatest Mathematicians like- Srinivasan Rmanujan, Aryabhatta, P.C. Mohla nabish, Shakuntala Barua etc
- Greatest Politicians like- Lal Bahadur Shastri, Sardar Vallavbhai Patel, Subhas Chandra Bose etc
- Greatest Businessmen like- J.R.D Tata, D.H. Ambani, Azim Premji, etc
- Greatest Literary Figures like- Kalidasa, Mirza Ghalib, Rabindranath Tagore, R.K.Narayan etc
- Greatest Social Reformers like- Raja Ram Mohan, Annie Besant (Not from indian origin), Mother Teresa (not indian origin) etc
- Greatest Filmmakers like- Satyajit Ray, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Mira Nair etc
- Greatest Dancers like- Birju Maharaj, Anita Ratnam, Mallika Sarabhai etc
- Greatest Musicians like- Bhimsen Joshi, Zakir Hussain, Kishore Kumar, A.R. Rahman etc
- Greatest Religious Thinkers like- Swami Vivekananda, Gautam Buddha etc
- We have one of the best institutions to get a degree IIT Kharagpur, IIM Ahmedabad, National Institute of Design Ahmedabad, Jawharlal Nehru University, IISC Bangalore, Indian Statistical Institute etc & to make a career we have TATA, Reliance, Hindustan Unilever, Reserve Bank of India, Flipkart, State Bank of India, IOCL,NDTV etc (The list is endless though)
I am not writing just because it’s an independence day; think before celebrating this unique day why we should be proud to be Indians? Why we need to change India? Why we cannot make a better India? Why cannot we give the same effort (like our ancestors did to make the country free) to make a peaceful, corrupt & crime free India?
Just think;
I cannot say take actions, do something for your country because that’s where you need to decide whether a peaceful personal life or peaceful India or both?
After all we are independent, so I left the question for you to answer (If you want to)
Happy Independence Day
Subhadeep Basu
English Vocabulary from
