Independence holds great importance for everyone across the world, irrespective of caste, class, gender or race. In India too Independence Day is considered a momentous day in its history.
It was 15th of August, 1947, when India got its freedom from the British rule of around 200 years. It would ever remain a holy day for every Indian because we have achieved our independence after a lot of struggle and sacrifices.
I feel we observe this day superficially. We forget the importance of this day soon after the evening. We attach too much importance to our individual freedom rather than to the national independence. We want to grow without thinking at all about the growth of the country. We must vow to safeguard the independence of our country.
Independence Day, today, to me means a world of opportunities, options waiting to be explored and dreams to be actualised. Some common dreams shared by our ancestors and some individual dreams, the foundations for both were laid by centuries of effort, which we celebrate today. One such common dream that can be summarised in Rabindranath Tagore’s words, “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high…”
Trying to define independence is like trying to define breathing. It is always there. It is a state of being. Most importantly, its value is understood only when it is taken away from us. It is waking up every morning knowing that choices and decisions can be made only by you and nobody else.
Our country has always set a wonderful example of being democratic. But if there’s something that I would like to be free from, it has to be from the regionalism and the stereotype that exists in every part of the country. Diversity has become our weakness rather than our strength. I want to be free from being asked what caste and community I belong to. I am a proud Indian and that should be enough for any fellow Indian.
If on this Independence Day there is one thing that I want to be free from it is pretence. “Live and let live” are words I have often heard but seldom seen practised. Most people only pretend to practise what they preach. Stop talking about it, start living it.
Freedom means different things to me. As a girl it meant being able to follow my dreams. As a teenager, it meant being able to wear my kind of clothes, listen to my kind of music, read my kind of books and my kind of language. As an adult it means being able to love by my own standards without having a bother about societal hang-ups. As a woman, it means being able to walk on the road at any time without fear. As a citizen it means being able to exercise the rights given to me by the constitution. And most important, as an individual, it means living in a society where I don’t have to pretend.
I am not questioning patriotic zeal here, for most of us here; Independence Day is just another holiday. We are probably grateful for the holiday, not the occasion. And as patriotic as we may claim to be, that freedom is just some vague idea, some vague names and dates and places, some vague struggles, some vague grainy black-and-white pictures straight out of school history textbooks. Things have changed radically since; things have improved by leaps and bounds. Every year we grow older, and with age, we do get more freedom. Here, I lift a line straight out of Spiderman, modify it to my convenience and say “With great freedom, comes great responsibility”.
The responsibility here means to consider “how my decisions would affect others”. It is an honorable remembrance to remind all generations to come, perhaps until the end of the world. The relentless struggle of our forefathers with millions of peoples of self-respect and dignity were dragged through public humiliation, unjustifiable prison time, racial discrimination, brutality and killing by the oppressors.
Hence, it is important to remember that day every day and celebrate it each year. I salute our troops and finally say, with tears in my eyes, that Independence Day and Veterans Day are important to remind ourselves that many people, out there on this day lost his/her life for us. And for the kind of freedom I was born with, that I enjoy today and take so much for granted, but for which so much blood was shed, I salute my Motherland and all those responsible for giving me this kind of freedom. As much as I realize I can never feel the way they felt, I am grateful for this legacy they have handed down.
“Freedom in the mind, faith in the words, pride in our hearts, and memories in our souls, lets salute the Nation.”
(Contributed by Simiran Mohapatra.
The essay has been adjudged the best write-up on the topic ‘My Definition of Independence Day’)