Independence vs. Freedom

Come 15th August, I abruptly notice all the TV channels, radio stations and the print media pass on news on Independence Day, liberty and nationalism. Even my Facebook page is flooded with patriotism. Everyone is underlining the fact that all of us should really revel in glory about the fact that we are a liberated nation. But time to think – are we really a free country?

At this point of time I am just wondering, how squat is the public recollection or is it just me who thinks that in a nation where every alternative day we hear a story about caste prejudice, honor killing, and rape, murders, terrorism which all are a common jargon, what kind of freedom are we actually speaking about here?

If I overlook the bigger picture, even after 63 years of autonomy I am never confident about venturing out of the house after dark in this country. We pompously claim that India is a liberated nation. Since we got independence in the year 1947, the infrastructure has developed, the level of education has elevated, and lifestyle has expanded, glamor, technology, entertainment industry, market, and what not. However, the structure we live in is fundamentally crooked, isn't it? Ever since we got independence 63 years back, the wealthier are getting more affluent, poor strata of the society are getting poorer and an average middle class man is a compressed vegetable of a sandwich of both the strata. The market in the existing circumstances compels middle class populace to work for over 14 to 15 hours per day and the value in response is like stones sinking in water. We live in a country where we are openly assaulted by some Ajmal Kasab.

The sleaze, the discrepancy of society, the whirlpool of political games, ignorance of rights is drooping one side of our nation in a sewer. Somewhere deep within, aren’t all of us somewhere responsible for it?

I recently had to bribe the telephone department to get a quick internet connection. Not to forget that I also had to bribe a staff of electricity department to get a three phase connection in my house here. Well, India main aise hi chalta hai!

Have we ever reflected on the fact that how freedom and independence are utilized so interchangeably? If you hunt for either of the terms in a thesaurus, you’ll discover each is shown as synonym for the other. Freedom and independence. Do they actually imply the similar connotation? Can we be free without being independent? Can we ever be independent without being free?

It’s that same time of year when all Indians turn their reflections towards the honor of the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for our freedom, and that just for today – August the 15th, we must commemorate what the freedom given to us in this land of the liberated, abode of the courageous. But think about it- how many of us are free and how many of the courageous lot are remaining? How many of us are prepared to stand up for what’s right, what’s wrong and not to concede defeat? I’d say India might be independent but there’s a long way to freedom yet. The day, we are truly liberated from our “chalta hai” mentality is the day; our nation would actually be free.

I conclude with a quote by Dwight D. Eisenhower: “Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, and the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.”

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