Freedom from what?

Independence day. 

The day we change our profile pictures to our national flag. The day we put up and share patriotic messages.The day we should  remember how our forefather fought against the oppressive foreign rule and got us freedom! Freedom from what? 

JULY 2012

GUWAHATI

A girl  was molested and stripped by a mob of 20 or more young men. A TV reporter who filmed the incident allegedly instigated this to get a breaking news. The men who did this brutal deed looked into the camera with pride. They made sure the girl's face came in the camera. When you see that one would wonder if they actually spent 9 months inside the womb of a woman. 

What mistake did the girl do to be treated like this?  Is it crime to go to a pub? Is it a crime to wear what you  like to wear? The girl thought she had the freedom to do so. To do anything within the law. So from what did our forefathers get freedom from? Surely not from the girl-molesting-stripping perverts in the video above.

More than the video going viral in the  country, the girl had her name told to the media. I still don't understand why when something like this comes up the 'leaders' blame it on the victims. The majority, thankfully consist of people with good morals and fortunately not fools also. Rather than supporting a bunch of thugs they should support the rights of each citizen.

ASSAM

Ethnic violence which lead to the death of 72 people and a huge number of the population getting dispalced. The clash between the Bodos and the Muslims has been there for a long time but never before has it escalated to this extent. The elected leaders and police were unable to contain the violence. The state blames the Centre and vice versa. Nobody is really bothered about the people. They keep blaming each other till another issue comes into the picture. 

(Taken from hindustantimes.com)

The rally held in Mumbai to show support to the Muslims in Assam riots in itself became a riot. What are they trying to prove? Why didn't anyone oppose the violence as a whole? The root cause is simple. You see the other person based on his/her religion, caste, creed, culture or region. You don't see them as human beings. You don't see them as Indians.  As many have pointed out patriotism is not something you show only for sports and war. It is accepting every single citizen of the country as Indians and not putting a brand of religion or region on them and segregating them. The great leaders got us freedom from the British but they did not free us from the narrow minds we have.

Padil, 

Mangalore

A bunch of young people were having a birthday celebration and none of them would thought they would make it to the cover pages of the national dailies the next day. 

Moral Policing it seems. Does anywhere in the Indian culture they say to beat up girls? Slapping girls is considered morally right but celebrating birthday is not? What they did was not acceptable they told. Acceptable to whom? A bunch of goons? Or the commission who blamed the girls?

I need not go on about the moral policing and how frustrated the young generation is. I live in Mangalore and it has a united young population who think beyond the borders. The culture less brigade is trying to break that unity I think. Someone else also did the same if I remember correctly. The British left and we got freedom from the foreign oppressors but what about the Desi oppressors? 

All these 3 incidents in the month of July.  More has happened. A lot more would have gone unreported. Untold stories of sufferings in the free republic and democratic India.

As we celebrate the 66th Independence day our freedom is hailed. But from what?

Every country has its problems but how we react to it makes all the difference. We can be indifferent or we can speak against it. Saying it is correct according to our ancient culture should be left to live in ancient times. 

We have the highest young population in the world and anything they do is against culture? I hope people accept everyone as they as they are and not force ideologies on them. A few people cannot break a nation but the indifference of the majority can do that.

 

When I see all the 'patriotic', 'proud to be an Indian' status updates I am happy. The acts of a few haven't dampened the spirits of the many. 

Happy Independence day. As always I am proud to be an Indian.

(A post I put 2 years back 'In which I am patriotic')

In which I am Patriotic!!!

My cousin settled in US asked me what I thought of the whole mosque and ground zero issue. I promptly replied its nothing but the usual American stupidity with a spoonful of paranoia of the terrorism thing! Right at that moment I felt really proud to be an Indian! After living in this country for almost 22 years I have never seen anyone actually bothered about such things in India…
No problem is our problem unless it directly affects us. Such as the broken water pipe, fallen tree on the road, fused street lights etc.. In these situations a true Indian calls up the concerned officials and abuse them, go to his neighbor and together they sit and abuse the bureaucracy of the country or in the worst case scenario he goes and gathers some people and try to do something (the last one has least chance of happening)
Of course we have so many other things not to be proud of. Such as
• Population growth
• Having maintained corruption at a steady rate
• Reservations and quotas still a mess
• CWG
• The Leftists (who oppose almost everything)
• The Congress (who thinks its still dynasty rule)
• Almost all other political parties ( who think nothing of progress)
There are more but these are ones on top of my head.. In spite of these matters I still felt proud today morning about being an Indian. Whatever communal problems occur here in our country Indians as in the people of India will not let it come into their lives. There is a minority of extremists in all the religions who wants to make problems or issues. It’s sad that in this age of liberation some still wants to go to the extreme. Osama has succeeded in terrorizing the people of America but I feel he has a long way to go before Indians actually be bothered about terrorism unless a bomb goes off in his own backyard...

The following is a letter from Dr.A.P.J Abdul Kalam (authenticity can’t be confirmed but its very inspiring)


“Why is the media here so negative?
Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements?
We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why?
We are the first in milk production.
We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.
We are the second largest producer of wheat.
We are the second largest producer of rice.
Look at Dr. Sudarshan , he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit.. There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters.
I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news.

In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime.. Why are we so NEGATIVE? Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? We want foreign T.Vs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology.
Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is.. She replied: I want to live in a developed India . For her, you and I will have to build this developed India . You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation.
..
YOU say that our government is inefficient.
YOU say that our laws are too old.
YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.
YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke. The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination.
YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits.
YOU say, say and say.. What do YOU do about it?
Take a person on his way to Singapore . Give him a name - 'YOURS'. Give him a face - 'YOURS'. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground links as they are.. You pay $5 (approx. Rs.. 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity… In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai.. YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah.
YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs..650) a month to, 'see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else.
'YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, 'Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost.' YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand ..
Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo ? Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston ??? We are still talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India ?
In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan ..
Will the Indian citizen do that here?' He's right. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility.
We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms.
We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity.
This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public.
When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? 'It's the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons' rights to a dowry.' So who's going to change the system?
What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away.
Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to England . When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money.
Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too….. I am echoing J. F. Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians…..
'ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY'
Lets do what India needs from us.