India celebrates her 67th Independence Day today. But for me, Independence is now reduced to a word. We are still bound by rules that makes us dependent on a government which cannot be even termed democratic. The great Indian Parliament has forgotten the days when it functioned properly. States are struggling to be split apart. Some struggling to counter natural disasters, even more waiting to be falling into the list. Curfews imposed in various parts confuses one with the mere notion of freedom. And then we have a group of politicians accusing each other and campaigning for a distant election. It is true we have made flee the British on this day 66 years ago, but still a long way to go for us to be free.
Independence is a state of mind,
It is challenged on counts of thought.
Brought about by an Eastern notion
Of scurrying the Queen and her zest.
Like a married Indian woman, freedom
Is forced to remain silent. To remain unknown.
Break out of the thoughts that hold us,
Shatter the images of living out of a government.
A provocative struggle is what the father
Wanted, not a passive resistance.
Indeed we can live without being afraid,
If we live the way bureaucracy wants us to.
But why live unafraid? Why reduce to being caged?
When we can live in the wild, roam, eat and revolt.
We are independent, but there are miles to go
Before the state sinks in to our thoughts.
Freedom stays away till the last person feels that he/she is the country, and it is he who should make his rules. Till then, we are still not independent.
My thoughts though march towards a distant past. A past where people stood up in defiance, and were not shadowed by leaders. A time when India was a colony, but the Indian was free in his mind.
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| Chandrasekhar 'Azad' |
| Subhash Chandra Bose : A forgotten hero |
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| Newspaper report on Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt. They bombed the assembly while also making sure that no one got hurt. They were later executed. |
| The trio which were hanged on the same date. |
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| Mahatma Gandhi : The man who inspired a nation |
'My name is Azad, and it means freedom'
The man's eyes glowed in passion with each word,
By the irony of his birth, he was caged,
But with the might of his thoughts, he was
As free as a drifting hawk.
Men like him could never be ruled,
They could never be smothered
From taking off. They crave to fill
The world they live in with the
Freedom that unsettles their poignant
And struggling minds.
They face deaths with a blatant smile,
Face bullets with an ease of mind.
They are driven by courage and
Not with the terror of fear. They
Live, smile and die. But the ideas
They shared shall never pass onto dust.
With a modest appearance, they are
The heroes that no soul hails,
No praise garlands their stubborn resistance,
They hold no glitz, they hold no skill,
But their spirits could never be contained.
It is this a country wants,
Freedom is bridged though thoughts,
When thoughts frame our acts,
We live to be free. When our actions
Unite with the world, everyone
Shall live independent.
The hope and prayers of this country rests with its own people. If they could idealize these individuals who have laid their lives for what they believed in and also to emancipate a nation from the grips of torment, changes could be made possible.
With a heart that beats for all,
I bow to you, my motherland,
Within your arduous love,
All of us remains united.
When we embrace each other with love,
It is your tricolors that sanctify us,
When we release the charms of duty,
It is your soul that ignites our body.
I bow to you in respect
JAI HIND
Great lines and a great tribute to India and the martyrs. Happy Independence Day :)
ReplyDeleteAnother Part of Me
This was an interesting post for me to read today. And Happy Independence Day to you.
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