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Freedom
Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, 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.~Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Saffron, green and white are splashed everywhere. Everybody seems to be talking about Independence, freedom, fighters and yes Mangal Pandey and Amir Khan.The whole nation is geared to pay lip service to the freedom fighters and eulogize the great Indian Independence saga.Is this the only tribute that can be paid to our freedom fighters?
Behind much noise about freedom struggle and our great freedom fighters theres a big silence about our present shackles of hunger, corruption and illiteracy . The freedom from hunger, social injustice and illiteracy yet remain distant dreams. The freedom struggle succeeded when people recognised their power and fought for a common cause. Every heart burned with a desire to oust the British from India.Swaraj, Swaraj and Swaraj was the only cry that echoed all over India.But the Swar of aaj is radically different from Swaraj. Its not a fight against outsiders its a fight against ourselves.
After the Indepenence we Indians have once again retreated to a deep slumber. Social evils and economic needs galore.Blaming government for every evil seems to be the only panacea for all our problems. All the discussions veer to one direction, the failures of our government.
We forget that government is but a body elected by us. We as Indians are at the helm of all the affairs of our great country. Government is just a means to achieve our aspirations.There was really no government that brought freedom to Indians from the atrocious rule of the British.The Indian people themselves fought for it.Then why can't we fight again?
When we truly appreciate our own power to bring social justice, education and prosperity to ourselves we can safely say that we will get complete freedom. If we just perform our duties sincerely in whatever field we are and if each of us contributes that little bit extra the sum will be gigantic.
If we take a lesson from history this Independence Day , we can say that we have truly paid tribute to our great freedom fighters.
An Encounter With A President
Circa my early teens, location Prague airport, occasion departure of visiting Indian Prime Minister and his entourage. I was in my early teens and my dad was posted to Indian Embassy Prague.I Had come to the airport with my family to see off the Prime Minister.There were other members of diplomatic fraternity and Czech officials at the airport.We had come earlier and there was some time for their arrival . As luck would have it my sister and me were just standing next to the Czech President and Prime Minister.Studying in a local Czech school I was fairly fluent in the Czech language. So we were engaged in nice pleasant talk with Mr. President. Even in wild, careless teens I was always careful as I had unconsciously assumed the duty of representing India at its best.Talking to the head of the state, I was thoroughly enjoying myself and was extremely excited. The weather was pleasant and the President was in jolly good mood. We had talked about education, hobbies and I was complimented for my command on Czech language.Suddenly with a naughty smile the President sprang a question at me which left me speechless, "You are a pretty young lady. I am sure lot of boys must be pursuing you. How many boy friends do you have?" Well, I have to say with rosy cheeks and eyes sparkling with future dreams I must have presented a pretty picture. But boy friends? Back then even to talk about boy friends was a taboo.Besides the question coming from the head of the state was difficult to handle. Though deep in my hearts I knew in Europe it was an innocous and in fact a complimentary question to be asked from any young lady. Anyhow faced with such contradictory voices from within I mustered my courage and answered , "Our culture doesn't allow us to have friends from the opposite sex." Seeing a serious look on my face and a sudden tension in the otherwise beautiful day the Prime Minister took charge and addressed the President, "Come on Sir, don't spoil our young generation. Let them do something good for their country." The President gave a meek smile and with that the tension eased. All of us started laughing. Just then the Indian PM arrived and we got busy in the usual departure protocol. Looking back at that incident I wonder what a simple set of people they were. There were no pretensions, no trace of the positions they held.