Its a beautiful day today with sun shining in its full glory here at IIMK where the weather is generally gloomy and overcast otherwise. It seems that even the Sun god is congratulating us Indians on 60th year of our independence. All the gloom is gone, what remains is bright sunlight showing the path forward. Its now upto us to tread this path and take our country into a new era.
Today I purposefully went and attended the flag hoisting ceremony organised by the college authorities. It was quite a while since I had done this. Last year on this day I was not in country and believe me the feeling of not being with my people was unsurpassable. Working on 15 August in a foreign land can make you nostalgic and force you to realise the actual importance of events like these. And today, I can tell you that the feeling of standing with others and singing the national anthem is superb. The speeches made by faculty were inspiring but full of usual cliches like hardwork, sacrifice, dedication etc. But I should admit its all true. The onus is onto us to take the unfinished jobs started by our forefathers to their finishing point.
Yesterday while preparing a report for a subject called Social Transformations in India, I got to know that there are villages where there is still no electricity, no medical centre, no school, no sanitary facilities, no drinking water, and this in Kerala which boasts of the highest literacy rate in our country. This is a state where every 3rd person is an NRI or aspires to be one but still villages like these also exist. Our dream of becoming a developed country cannot be fullfilled unless villages like these join the mainstream. It doesnt make sense for some people to shout that our country is going great guns and its only a matter of time before we join the league of developed and powerful nations till the time people do not have access to basic amenities required for mere survival. I may be sounding to be too impractical and idealistic but believe me this is a change which should happen and the faster it happens the better it is.
So while celebrating our 60th Independence day and basking in the glory of this great nation, we should not forget that there is much more to be done and achieved before we can claim full independence. A political independence without independence from hunger, poverty and misery is just symbolic and not actual. But that shouldnt stop us from remebering the heroes who gave us this independence.
“Aye mere watan ke logo jara aanth mein bhar lo paani, jo shaheed hue hain unki yaad karo kurbani”
