Let us not begin the day, 15th August 2019, with
feelings of patriotism without understanding, what has changed in our country
from the time, Pandit Nehru made his ‘tryst with destiny’ speech, which the
country heard on the radio if they were unable to come to Delhi. Years of
subjugation lead people to breathe easy, because, as Indians, they were
returned from the British Empire, what was theirs, to call and to nurture as
their own. The change was desperately needed.
No matter, how you look at it, the change was slow – very slow
indeed.
It has taken us a long time to disrupt the system, to reach
the last man at the furthermost corner of India. It has taken India, to take a
roundabout turn and harness its strengths to do what it needed to do.
Ullekh N.P in his book, War Room, describes how the
Elections of 2014 was won on digital media, using technology, to its best. The
rise of India, as a technology-rich country, did not start in 2014.
Way back,
Bill Gates visited India, and went to Tamil Nadu, to experience the state,
because, most of the Indians working in Microsoft, were Indians from Tamil Nadu.
He wanted to know where the ‘brains of India’ came from.
The real freedom we need to be proud of is our enormous strength
is the technology which we are now garnering not only to win elections but also in
all fields that affect our lives. This is creating a new generation of young
change-makers who want to do more for their country, in order that hunger, can
be eradicated, education can be for all, housing can also be for all. Plus,
healthcare is given to all. All, these are basic human rights of an individual. And
this was not possible to achieve even after 65 years of Independence!
So, the real patriotism
is coming from where it should – young change-makers in every field. They are leading the disruption in every field
and we need to recognize that and move with times, happy to move with the
clock, moving forward.
It is not enough to shout Jai Hind one day and relapse into ‘pan-chewing, bidi-smoking,
spitting-publicly, defecating-publicly, and using walls to urinate publicly,
people. We need leaders who inspire the youth and this is why the
youth are happy with the way they can do things today, which they never could,
earlier on. Ease of doing business is primary to our country, so we have more
FDI in our country. And the backbone of our country remains strong –
Economics.
This Independence Day is more precious because the day
coincides with Raksha Bandhan (The festival which strengthens ties between
brothers and sisters). If yoga is accepted and practiced worldwide, I think
that Raksha Bandhan too should become an international festival.
In the purity
of the bonding between brothers and sisters, is an unconditional tie of love,
that runs through life – it is by its very nature an emotion spelling out devotion to each other,
and protection of each other. In that sense, it is free, because unconditional
love and loyalty set us free.
Jai Hind!
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