The illusion of independence

"At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance… We end today a period of ill fortune, and India discovers herself again"

These lines by Pandit Nehru still haunts!

India - 65 years of independence, 24 I have seen but still one question lingers - Are we really independent? Or is it just the illusion of independence.

When a child is born he is under the guidance of parents and is totally dependent on them. They continue to influence him to make him what he is today. Rules and regulations become an integral part of his life - be it school, college or job.  At every point he is reminded of “Man is born free but lives in chains”. All excited, living with the dream of becoming independent and designing his own world - free of rules and regulations where he can take his own decisions, he reaches the age of 18. Thud! His dreams dash into the ground. He starts wondering - was the dream really possible?

Gathering courage, he stands up, decides to do something. But, the thought of doing something is soon followed by the thought of how the society will react to his thinking. Alas! he realizes the society is still very conservative and not at all independent. He just cannot do whatever he wants to..why? Because that might harm others and thus he finds himself in a conundrum. Perplexed to the core - to be or not to be!

In school he was taught that India is a secular state..really? Bullshit!  Had there been anything like secularism, communal tension wouldn't have existed. Unity in diversity takes a toll during communal violence. Its not that all citizens are alike but still a small spark is enough to turn a forest into ash. Our thinking is influenced by some illogical preachers who just wants to increase their follower base! As if they'll be rewarded one day for the best/largest follower base award.  Thinking independently is the need of the hour but are we really doing that? Social networking sites are full of "Proud to be an Indian" updates on 15th August and 26th January, but do you attain some other citizenship for the rest of 363 days? Why don't we take pride in being an Indian throughout the year?

To become really independent one should have the right to live in what ever way he/she wants. Nobody should dictate. Being surrounded by corruption and "honest" politicians can we really think of independence? Till today bribery exists - over the table or under the table or "chai paani toh lagega hi". People are killing each other as if they are playing ping pong! One day you read in the newspaper that the crime rates are decreasing, the very next day these rates return with full revenge - "how can we go down". If I remember correctly, bonded labor law in 1976 said "Bonded labor in India is abolished" ; "No slavery should exist" - but just like any other law, it also only exists.  Slavery is still rampant in the country and unemployment is like an icing on a already rotten cake. Thousands of Tonnes of grains are going waste in the granaries which can be distributed to millions of people who are dying because of hunger as they cannot not afford 2 meals a day. Women are suffering due to lack of education. Just like female education has been made mandatory, its time to come up with mandatory male education - as they are the ones who inflict pain and suffering on women.

Independent and educated - we call ourselves then why can't we break this conservatism. Why are we still dependent on the political system to bring about the change? One reason what I perceive for huge illiteracy is that the people in power can control illiterates so that the votes can be controlled easily.

Cerebral fluctuation and the sinusoidal wave enters the positive quadrant - I am proud of being in Indian. India has achieved a lot yet the negatives overshadow the positives. What can I do doesn't matter but what can We do matters - replacing the "chai paani" with the actual chai paani, voting sensibly, saving natural resources, each one teach one and what not.

Last but not the least - "Unique you are, just like everybody else - give others the right to live the way they want to live"