Posted by Today India celebrates her 74th Independence Day, a freedom earned after a hard struggle of 200 years against the British crown. Every year the nation wears a festive mood on this day however this year is bound to be different with the Corona prohibiting large scale celebrations.
The nation attained independence but did the citizen’s achieve independence in true sense especially from the old mindset, the old beliefs and traditions which are so deeply ingrained in the hearts and minds. In the present times physical occupation of the land mass is not a necessity to enslave a nation; capturing the minds, the thoughts, influencing the decision making, ruling the economy are what matter.
As a nation we are even after 73 years of independence still obsessed with jobs abroad, still prefer fair skin to be superior to dark, still consider that proficiency in speaking/ understanding English language is a must for achieving success in any field, are struggling to contain the caste/ communal/ economic divide between the citizens, still refusing to give the youth the right to make their own decisions, blindly offer donations at temples and not bother to do anything for improvement of our educational institutions and still struggling to end the quota system. Is this what our freedom fighters laid down their lives for?
On 15 Aug 1947 we just got independence from the British, but our still struggling to free our mind from the old thoughts, it is high time we made sincere efforts to change our mindsets.
The same people, irrespective of the caste, creed or social status who are so disturbed by the necessity to wear face mask have hardly ever made efforts to remove the blinds they have been wearing since ages on their minds restricting the thought, vision and imagination. Till we change our way of thinking the national dream of ‘Aatmnirbharta’ (Self dependence) will continue to remain a dream.
I am reminded of the beautiful thoughts expressed by the great Rabindranath Tagore in his work ‘Let my Country Awake’….
“Where the mind is without fear,
And the head is held high,
Where knowledge is free,
Where the world has not broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls,
Where words come out from the depth of truth,
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection,
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way,
Into the dreary sand of dead habit,
Where the mind is led forward by thee,
Into ever widening thought and action,
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.”
Happy Independence Day.🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳
🙏🙏🙏
We have started wearing masks to protect ourselves from the virus but the invisible mask on our mind and eyes now needs to be removed so that we can have a free mind and a free vision..Jai Hind!!!
Yes..
Stay blessed 🙏😇
Happy Independence Day Sir. It is often said that we as a nation live in many centuries at the same time. While people living in Metros may face depression from social media trolling at the same time people living in rural areas may face depression from lack of internet connectivity for attending online classes or lack of basic facilities. Hopefully we as a nation grow together and progress together. Regards
That’s so true Lalit…
Stay blessed 🙏😇
Absolutely brilliant piece, time is to remove the mask of those factors which are taking us reverse and drifting us apart; Time is now to unite for progress. Lots to ponder over. Thannks.
Thank you so much Bienu..
Stay blessed 🙏
Those are indeed fabulous words by Mr. Tagore! I believe the “beef” with non-mask wearers is, if you look at the masks worn by those handling biological waste, or asbestos, to name a couple, it seems the only masks that would really help, available to the public, is the m95 style. There are so many contradictions heard as well, such as the low % of those susceptible to the bug vs. other sicknesses. People hear the masks don’t work, they’re loose and wind blows germs, they feel they should have the freedom to choose to wear one or not. Many think sheltering themselves actually weakens the immune system. Anyway, I think being a part of the celebration of India’s Independence may be very neat. There are attacks on free speech in America. People are being deplatformed from Facebook and YouTube on the basis of ‘Hate Speech’ when, in reality these people aren’t being hateful at all. Is India experiencing things like this? I certainly hope not. Happy Independence to you and your family.
Thank you Renee…India is a free country ..though some idiots are around in every country…but manageable..
God bless you 🙏🙏