How free are we?

A few days ago, on the fifteenth of August, world's largest democracy celebrated its 74th Independence Day. Every year, the day is marked by the hoisting of the tricolour at the historical Lal Qila at Delhi by the Prime Minister of India. The suit is followed by other government offices and institutions across the country including police stations, schools and state government offices. Few establishments use the day for award distributions and organise cultural programmes to remember the sacrifice our ancestors had made for us to be free.

As a kid, it was very common for us to read in various books that Mahatma Gandhi was the father of the nation and that he led the freedom struggle for India. Accompanying his photograph, would be two others - Bhagat Singh and Netaji - for whom only few lines would be written focussing on how they were radical in nature and preached violence. As we grew, the textbooks did mention the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 - India's first uprise against the British governance - but they fail to highlight that this first war took place long before Gandhiji was born. While the Indian leaders had the mammoth task of uniting the nation for the war of independence, it was more than half a century later that the Mahatma entered the picture - a time period in which thousands of lives were already lost and forgotten.

Over the course of the freedom movement, the history books also fail to teach us how the non-violent leaders of the struggle had formed political biases and groups while the radicals lost their lives only to see their motherland free - without any vested interest of running the government in independent India. Among the ones who saw India free, there were only few who cared for the future of India - their motherland - instead of the communities that they belonged to or had softness for. So much so that the country was divided into pieces on the ground of religion and thousands lost their families in a war that was not required.

Fast forward 73 years since the night chacha Nehru declared that India has awakened to life and freedom, the day meant to commemorate our war heroes - an average Indian talks about freedom and poverty but chooses to stay in bed till late - for it is a national holiday - a day off from work. There is a disconnect from the motherland because the only war heroes we know of are the ones who the government chose to show us instead of describing the movement through the eyes of a common indian who was a part of the struggle - either implicitly or explicitly. We shed tears and show our anguish for an ambush that kills our soldiers but fail to support their families for the sacrifice that they have made for a billion people.

A modern day youth in India talks about freedom of speech - to be able to talk against the government for their biases and wrong doings but is not interested to be a part of the system to clean it up from within. An honest officer - one who is in the system - is transferred 12 times in 9 years for being truthful, for not willing to support the babus and for trying to change an establishment in a way that harms the local corrupts. Today, a well learned person from a financially stable background choses to make connections with the political leaders to make easy money, but a poor one choses to make himself physically fit and defends his nation at the border - leaving behind his family - only to be remembered on the day when they lose their life.

As far as the governance is concerned, there is no doubt that the country is a democratic republic and functions independently. However, the road to independence is a long one. Why is it that a three week shutdown threatens millions with starvation? Why is it that our mothers and our sisters are not safe on the road at night? While globalisation calls for a common co-existing culture, why is it that an Indian youth is eager to adopt a foreign culture but not okay with eating an indian dish in an indian way - with bare fingers? Why is it that half of the country is a victim of the western cultural hegemony while the other half can't name ten countries other than India? If any of these strikes a chord, maybe we need to ask ourselves - how free are we?