Category: India

After I emailed my friends and posted my thoughts about India’s 60th Independence Day here, I got a few responses from people. I am posting a couple of them here. I have also added my comments on the same.

PD said this. I thought about it and this is what I have to say to her.

If you want to come back to India, I would say you are not being stupid at all. Don’t know if this is true with you also, but I am always asking myself what difference am I making to people here? Would things remain same if I wasn’t here? Would someone miss me? And most of the times, answer is no. Nothing changes. No one misses you and you don’t make any difference. And this makes me rethink the entire concept of coming back to India or for that matter calling something home. Loads of thinking. Missing Action .. ?

Independence, you have echoed what I believe and hopefully everyone else feels like that. Day in and day out I see people compromising and deciding against using their right of freedom. Why? I don’t know. I wish I knew…

I shall keep my comments reserved on religion. On one hand it gives us the roots. It gives up much needed grounding to think and to act and to dream and to aspire for big and on the other hand it doesn’t allow us to fly like we should. It stops us. It holds us back. We encounter zillions of roadblocks before we can do something. I still don’t know where to put religion. Don’t know what to think about it. May be religion is good and organized religion isn’t. May be it’s the other way round. May be it is not.

Ankit, a classmate from MDI said

Hey people….

Before i begin, lemme confess something…till less than an year ago, i was confused regarding my patriotosm….
i thought why exactly is it should i feel attached to my country, isnt it just like your state, your town…the same way i consider all states in india equally, shouldnt i also feel the same way about the earth, considering the countries as just states….

I put the question to a lot of people (Why should i love my country) and nobody came out with any satisfactory answers…
then one of my frens finally showed me the light…as to why a country is to be loved, respected…how is it different from your
state/town/region…
A country is actually the place which has fed the people you really love/respect..your father, their fathers and so on…it has sustained your entire heritage….its the reason for your existence…that is something u can respect a place for..as a country, not your state/town/region…..

now to the questions put forward….

1. India to me is like the ever present hand that moulded my character, my nature. An invisible hand which made me into what i am today, n i dont mean the external factors like jobs, studies, i m talking about the very basic of my traits, like the nuamces of my nature, the way i behave, act and react….and since i love the person i am (very narcissitic, yes), i can definitely say that i m proud to be an indian, for the way it has moulded me…

2. I am currently living in the UAE, a monarchy…and now i understand the value of freedom (which i as a lot of us, including me, take for granted)…freedom is about being able to say what you think is right….is being able to raise your voice against the institution…is being able to practice your religious, political,cultural beliefs openly, without the fear of prosecution…is being able to make your own personal decisions regarding the art(movies, books, plays) that is right and the art that is not right…not having someone elses ideology having thrust upon you….is being able to play a role in the direction in which the nation is moving forward….
i am not saying its all present in Inida, but that is what i would want india to strive for…land of the free…and trust me the biggest freedom is the freedom of thought, freedom of speech…not just universal sufferage…and sorry to say, but because of a few religio-political factions, India does not enjoy it to the extent to which a democracy should…..

3. If i could change one thing then that definitely would be the corruption in the system…coz i agree think that is the root of all the rpoblems in the country…coz its not that our leaders are not doing anything about say illiteracy, some of them are, but the funds for the same are disappearing on theirway to the grassroot levels…do away with corruption and we will solve most of our problems….

a little verbose yes, but kya karega??????

Looks like everyone is pissed off with corruption in the country.

Ridhima, another very good friend said

1. Sure I feel proud to be an Indian, not because Shilpa Shetty got a doctorate or Lara Dutta won a beauty peagent or Aishwarya Rai got yet another international film..but because India has produced people like LN Mittal and Amrtya Sen. and above all, it has had n important role to play in evry Indian’s destiny as it has played in mine..
2. yest i went to watch a movie and everyone stood up for the national anthem, people who had not yet reached their seats stopped in their tracks. the torch boy, who must be listenin to it day in and day out, also stood still. What struck me was, that there was no one to superwise, no policing..no moral policing, yet each one in the hall stood up. Thats freedom to me. Y should we always look at wat freedom allows us to do..y not how we use it?

3. Agree with u totally here..infact, in one of my placement interviews I said the exact same thing, all cast battles, religious issues, dirty politics…everything can be cleaned out if all of us are educated..just think about it, today the politicians have half the country believe that their helicopters are more important that our roads!! wud it happen if we all were literate??

Ankit also has the same concerns I have. What makes you love just your country? Why cant I have strong feelings about an Asian? Why cant I have strong feelings about being a Dilliwala? Ankit is convinced, I am not. It would take lot more.

Talking about corruption, I would again say that we need to make bribing, corruption a taboo (way boozing, pre marital affairs are). Somehow, someone needs to find a way to creating it a social problem.

May be social punishments for people caught bribing? May be huge incentives for whistle blowers? End of the day people are corrupt not because they dont like others. People are corrupt because they think its easy and fast way to reach the luxuries. Something has to be done. Time for action. And yes, one man CAN make a difference.

15th August 1947 – India’s tryst with destiny. 60 years ago, Pt. Nehru made an historical speech (text, video, YouTube) and time has come to take a stock of achievements and gaps.

This year instead of sending regular Independence day wishes, I sent the following email to a few people …

Hi,

As we turn 60 tomorrow, I thought that instead of sending regular wishes and cards, I will ask a few questions.

I am sending this to a select few in my list. I am hoping that some of us will actually take time off our busy lives and ponder on things that have largely been ignored.

Ok here are the three questions, the ones I want us to think on.

Three questions
1. What is India to you? Are you proud to call yourself Indian?
2. What does independence mean to you?
3. If you could change one thing about India, what would it be?

Taking a lead, I thought about each of them and here are my honest answers.

1.
India to me is more than a country. India is my identity. India defines me. I am as Indian as anyone can get. I am crazy about cricket. I am insecure. I am boastful and like to show off. I am hungry for appreciation. I think about society twice before I do things. I crib. I can find everything wrong with the system. I can talk but when it comes down to action, I take the back seat.

I am proud of our achievements. Humble they may seem compared to rest of the world but none the less they are achievements. They are what we have done in past. They are what we have not done in past. They are precedents and they are the benchmarks. Time has come to now actually raise those benchmarks.

2.
To me, independence is about borders, boundaries and constraints. Freedom is about looking beyond these imaginary lines and aspiring to explore things beyond them. It is about thinking, trying, fighting and in few cases, actually achieving. Personally I would say I am still not free. I am still bound by constraints. I think twice before I take any step – big or small. There are many a stones that are still unturned. There are many a frontiers yet to be conquered. There are many a lives yet to be lived.

3.
If I could change one thing, I would change the literacy rate from 50 odd percent to 100 percent. In my view, illiteracy is mother of all evil. Conquer it and rest of the demons shall be conquered. Easier said than done.

Please see if you can share your thoughts with me.

Warm Regards,
Saurabh Garg

I got a few responses and with their permission, I shall post them here over a few days. If someone is reading this and has an opinion, please share. Email me at septemberthe22nd@gmail.com.

15th August over the years
15th August 2006
15th August 2005
15th August 2004

Independence Day Wallpaper