As I sit sipping my green tea, browsing the various pages that tell me about how much my country has improved in the last 63 years...i realize that even with a lot of optimism in people...there is so much more left to do..for example..we boast of an increase in the literacy rate from 12% at the end of British Rule to 66% in 2007 and on the other hand, it is still way below the world average of 84%.
Out of my RARE yet genuine dedication for my country and surrounded by the continuous rhetorical questions all over the television of "Kya aap azaad hain?" which translates to are you actually free, I sit down to jot what independence means to me...to start with, on a personal front, independent I am...I have always been given the freedom to choose things the way I want and my parents have always respected my decisions in important matters concerning me..here a small clarification seems necessary...for all the 22 years that i have lived...i have been given just about everything that i have wanted if it was feasible...I have been a pampered child, but that did not take away the independence from me...the freedom of thought and action prevails...
So, I continue, is India as a country actually free...i happened to read about the national flag today...not that i wasn't aware of it before :). So, saffron stands for renunciation of disinterestedness of the politicians (and NOT Hindu!)..green stands for attachment to the soil (and NOT muslims!) white stands for truth (and NOT peace between the two aforementioned!) and the Ashoka Chakra in the center for the motion that leads to the progress of the country (and NOT just taken from the stambh itself!)...
The point is, has India progressed as much as it should have? I had a discussion with a friend today, and we both agreed on how Indian laws are more on paper than actually being implemented and how we have such a badly maintained history. Ironically I am reading about buddha's life on a site http://www.ancientindia.co.uk/ ...because the history of our country is much better preserved by the outsiders than by us..! We know more about the great wall of China that we do about the Chaar Minar! Even worse, we care more about visiting the former than the latter!
I speak about this to my grandfather..about the issue...and he asks we what i am writing about..and he puts in his views...about how its not the laws which are rigid in the country, but the people who are implementing them. We speak about how criminals are not put to the books here, because they are either supported by the ruling party, to show that the police forces have done a great job in finding them or by the opposition, that wants to prove that the ruling party is no good...who is suffering? People like us...who feel scared before stepping out of their houses, who are becoming so skeptical that they don't trust anyone...
Im not equipped with the essential statistics for what all I wish to write...but its my endeavor to just put across the feeling!
I really like what a Tea advertisement says: Roz subeh sirf utho mat...JAGO!
Till then...Jai Hind! :)
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