58 years ago, on this very day, we were freed from the clutches of British Rule after almost a century of struggle and freedom fights.
I salute those who fought for India's freedom and also those who were not directly involbed in the struggle, but supported those who were! There's a famous saying in Hindi (which happens to be my mother tongue): "Yuddh mein JAI bolne waalon ka bhi mahatva hai"
It means, in a war, even those who shout for the fighters are also very important!
Now, I wasn't born at the time our nation was declared free and I haven't been following political happenings closely by any standards, but I do subscribe to the fact that perhaps we could have made more progress under the British Rule, than we did independently. And I don't say that for no reason.
- I have been in Kanpur for a little over an year and have observed the quality of life here. Can you imagine yourself eating a dish made out of vegetables which could have been bought from someone sitting on half-dry swamp and resting the vegetables on a piece of cloth. Mind you, the cloth also is rested on the half-dry swamp! Interestingly, the market that I am talking about here is never empty, sometimes very crowded. Goes to show the hygiene consciousness of the people.
- Look at the condition of roads in Kanpur. I study in IIT, which is one of the most respected institutions of the country. The road leading to it is terrible! However, undoubtedly, this is one of the best roads in Kanpur. Actual condition of other roads is left upto your imagination. I do not have the words to describe them.
- Forget Kanpur, its roads and its hygienics. Let's turn our face to more serious issues. You know what an ex-health minister of our country thought about AIDS?
According to the ex-minister I am reffering to, the root cause of AIDS is not unsafe sexual habits. Rather, it is our desire to have sex (which is most natural to any organism). This ex-minister is well educated and has enough knowledge of sex and AIDS, so I was amazed to hear these words. Instead of promoting the use of condoms and making them most easily available, the government was trying to stop people from having sex! And they thought they would succeed at it?
Come on! Grow up people! - A panchayat asking a rape victim to marry the accused!
- Another panchayat asking a woman to leave her husband's house because her father-in-law raped her and therefore she was now her original husband's mother. WTF! What rubbish!
These are some of the issues that came to my mind as I was writing this post, but there are many more topics which are much more serious.
This does not mean that we should not have got the freedom in the first place. I love my motherland and am very happy that I was born and have lived in a free country. However, have we done justice to those who lost their life in winning us the freedom?
This is a time to look back, see where we went wrong, possibly try to rectify the mistakes and make sure we don't repeat them.
Beautiful. Isn't it?
PS: I am ashamed to admit that I haven't done anything for the country till date and therefore I do not have the right to write all this that I have written. There's one thing, however, that I have done. I have always cast my vote and will always try to continue doing that. I request all those who are eligible to vote, to go and cast their vote during elections, now onwards. Atleast do the minimum you can do for your country.
