Free India

With Independence Day around the corner, it makes me look back on these 63 years of freedom. What would Gandhiji say if he were alive today? Would he be happy seeing the state of affairs now? Have we lived up to the expectations of those thousands of people, who sacrificed their precious lives, just so that we could take a breath of air freely? What have we achieved with the freedom we have got? A recent ad (or a public message of sorts) shows a woman, being questioned on what freedom means to her, and her answer is a long list of what’s wrong with the country.


Needless to say, corruption is the first thing which pops to everyone’s mind when we think of India today. Bribery is no more an under the table affair. People now have the freedom, to blatantly ask for bribes for work, which in any case forms a part of their duty and for which they receive a salary. We can’t imagine getting a decent education without shelling out some extra cash. Donation is the new name given to it, to make it sound respectable. It is something that we have come to accept.

While on the subject of education, it’s disheartening to see that even today, girls in many parts of the country are deprived of basic education. Dowry harassment, child marriage, sati are practices, which are still prevalent. People have the freedom to subject women to such atrocities, without any fear or remorse. While women are claimed to be matching strides with men, there exists another reality, which we choose to turn our face away from. Women empowerment seems to be a lost dream.

Given the kind of growth India has seen over the past half a century, it’s a shame that we still depend on reservations and quotas. Does that mean that the growth has not been uniform? Are the rich getting richer and poor getting poorer? Or is it a simple truth; that we are not ready to give up something which gives us an easy way in?

Despite being an agricultural state, it’s sad that we are sold sub- standard food items, while the superior ones are reserved for export. Adulterated food is common and it’s always a risk which we quietly take. Black marketers are free to hoard goods and we have no choice but to pay through our nose and purchase the same.

We don’t tire singing songs of our unity, which finally helped overthrow the British. Now we are far from united. Each state wants autonomy. Everyone wants to rule. The country is being torn into bits. Though we claim to be secular, the communal riots that take place every now and then, have a different story to tell. Earlier we were oppressed by the British. Now they have been replaced by other factors. We were oppressed then, we are oppressed now. So what have we gained from Independence?

Agreed, we may have got Independence and the freedom is being used for all the wrong purposes. At the same time, I can’t help but think that if I’m writing my thoughts here, it’s because of the rights, that Independence has given me. We are free to, say what we want, do what we want and go where we want. Though there is a lot we wish were different, we also need to be thankful for what we have. People put their lives at stake, because they believed, that this country had much more potential than what it was being made into. We need to be thankful to them, who fought, just so that we (people completely unrelated and unknown to them) could enjoy freedom. They fought, so that we could at least have a chance to make a difference today. The least we can do is acknowledge and respect their contribution. The least we can do is put aside our cynicism, and do our bit, however small, to make our country a better place; to take it at least an inch closer to their dream.