I wish all my fellow Indians happy Indi-pain-dance day. Sounds weird isn't it? How can I be so sarcastic on a day that we have celebrated for over 60 years with enthusiasm and pomp? The sound of the national anthem and the hoisting of the tricolor always brought goose bumps for all these years. Not any more. I dont feel it. May be we forgot what independence means or may be the whole concept of independence on the 15th of August, 1947 was not meant to be in the first place.
My heart aches as I write this and its been hurting since I gained conciousness and have been trying to figure out why we celebrate this day. We should have gained independence from the British raj by waving a war. The PAIN caused by the shameless DANCE of corruption that mother INDIA is going through, I have felt that for years now. Gandhiji's non-violence method did pave the way for our independence but sadly enough we lost the zeal and fighting spirit of the Aryan's whose blood still run in our veins. Bapu would surely be ashamed of us all and specially of the clan he lent his surname to. He would have never realized that one day we would drag the nation to the morgue, killing it a little every day for over half a century.
I don't want to and don't have to mention the instances of how corruption has become a part of our lives like daily meals. We eat it every day and reason it with a energetic word called survival. Yes we survive, we forgot how to live and in the process have killed the values and ethics that built this civilization thousands of years ago. I don't want to mention how corruption and bribery and siphoning of public money is happening in front of our eyes every day. We know the names and how it is done, media can't help. Even if they do, the bad guys are not scared any more, people like me have given up and how many of us would go to the court to fight a public litigation, charge-sheet the corrupt and how many courts and judges would be needed to bring the demons to justice? As I browsed through the news everyday for the last ten years or more, only thing I have realized is that corporations and political leaders are getting unaffected by anything around them. We are a tolerant nation - we do our job well.
Joseph Marie de Maistre, a 18th century french philosopher said "Every country has the government it deserves". I can't agree more to this statement. Yes we deserve the corruption that is affecting our lives today. And the reason is because we are corrupt and we hardly try to lead our lives in a righteous path. We do whatever is convenient for us and profitable to us. How may of us have said NO while paying bribe at the local driver licenses office? how many of us said NO to copying in exams? how many of us have said NO to easy money that comes through any profession? how many of us are doing or at least trying to bring in a difference to the lives of the under privileged? The list is endless. Have we ever tried to think beyond are needs and satisfactions? Answer would be bleak to none.
Then why complain? Why are we complaining that political leaders are corrupt? Are you right in your own small world? Are you doing things or at least trying to make things right at home, loving your family and friends? Are you doing your job properly ? Are you sympathetic to your countrymen? Do you care for the the injured person laying unattended in an accident scene? If the answer is NO, then do not blame any government, do not take out rallies against the system. Rectify yourself. Change the way you live and think. Become less selfish and think beyond your small little world. Remove yourself from the shackles of bondage and you will realize the true meaning of Independence.
And for the day when India will be Independent, I will wait and strive for it every day. Will you join me?
