With every Independence, my love for the country and my patriotism keeps going up. There is a lot more pride in my heart for India. In fact, I look forward to DD showing the flag hoisting ceremony at the Red Fort by the Prime Minister and try to surf various news channels to catch the mood of the year’s Independence Day celebrations across various cities. I also try to see if I can catch up on one of the patriotic movies that are being played on the various movie channels.
During childhood, Independence Day just meant like another holiday and reason to be off from school and I did not find the 15th Aug shows on TV to be very exciting. I do not know what led to the change - whether it is more hope and positivity for the country or is it the maturity of age, but the reason is not important.
Today as I write this blog, I am just trying to think of Independence beyond what we know it as. Independence meant freedom from British Raj before 1947 but after that it has meant completely different for different people at different times including me.
The other word for Independence is Freedom and one song that comes to mind is
‘I Wanna Break Free’. The reason why this song comes to mind is because post 1947, freedom has taken a different connotation and while one celebrates India’s historic Independence with great gusto, this day always gives an opportunity to sit back and ponder over what is it that one would want to break free from or what is the next level of freedom one would want to enjoy.
As a child, freedom meant a day away from school, books and homework and just play and play. As a teenager, freedom meant permission to go on a school picnic or a school trip and just have a great time. As a newly turned 18-year old, freedom meant the licence to drive freely on my own as well as the right to vote. As a young post-grad out from B-school, freedom meant an end to studies and a start to an independent career. Two years down the line, freedom meant the ability to choose the companies I would want to work for and not be dependent on a placement day.
This clearly shows that the meaning of freedom may keep changing but the joy of achieving it will always remain the same. Now, I am trying to think that what is the next freedom that I seek and maybe it will be some time before I can be ready for an answer so I think I will leave it for some other blog.
