What August 15th should mean to us!

About a week ago, I received a peculiar message that got me thinking. In essence, it was an early I-Day greeting...... a tongue-in-cheek reference to how we wish people for Friendship Day, V-Day and a variety of such meaningless, absurd occasions a week before they arrive, but that we never well up with anxiety over missing out on wishing someone on Independence Day. It was maybe a cheeky way of saying that we don't value the occasion enough.

Though I'd agree with the sentiment to some

extent, I think the malaise grows deeper than that. It seems people don't see a purpose or a reason to celebrate the occasion! Besides the usual 'India gained independence and the right of self-rule after centuries of oppression by an imperialist power' that we learn to repeat without blinking our eyes in school, I have not heard many reasons why this day would hold any significance to any of us personally. In the same way that you attach significance to Valentine's Day only when you're in a committed relationship yourself, I-Day is meaningless unless it means something to all of us personally.

Thinking of my motivation for celebrating I-Day(and I can't believe I've never really felt the need to think this through the 19 previous times that I've celebrated it), I come to a fairly straightforward conclusion : To me the significance of the occasion is that the 15th of August 1947 marked the mid-point of a movement. This movement saw people across this nation, irrespective of class, creed and gender gathering together because of one realisation : They realised that this nation was in trouble, that too many problems existed in this densely populated region that could not be ignored any more, and that the only way their problems and grievances could be addressed was to take the responsibility of governing this nation into their own hands and seek solutions themselves! They realised that besides showing a general disrespect towards the people, the British lacked one thing that was needed to bring modernity to this nation steeped in tradition and culture: sensitivity. In recent times, that one quality in itself would have averted some of the most despicable crimes that have been committed against the people of this country.

After independence, the first leaders of this nation ambitiously laid plans to tackle each of our burgeoning headaches in an effort to prove that the sacrifices that had been made in the process of gaining India's freedom were not in vain. In those times, Independence Day meant something to everyone. It was a time to reflect on the progress that had been made in the past 1 year, how life had improved for the masses, and to mark out the next brick to be laid along that long road to be followed to make this nation the envy of the world. Along the way, human nature took its toll. The visions of our forefathers for a prosperous, egalitarian society were crushed so the whims of a few could be imposed on the nation. The rich got richer, the poor got poorer, and the corrupt got fat! And in the process, we lost hope. Laws were amended and new ones made that went against the visions of the Constitution, the very foundation of our democracy. Older laws, rather than being strengthened, were amended to add more loopholes to allow further corruption. Politicians stepped away from their duty towards social reform, allowing fanatics to impose their morals upon the masses in their religious bastions. Rather than rooting out the evils in our social system, we had sarpanches, imams, pujaris and pastors picking and choosing the bits and pieces of our 'culture' they wanted to retain/discard. We retain our infernal caste system in the name of tradition, but the culture of 'athithi devo bhava' now applies only to Aamir Khan's commercials.

Our goal as a nation now to be to celebrate Independence Day the way it was originally meant to : not just nonsensical chest-thumping and muscle-flexing as the Americans do it! To treat the day as a celebration of our achievements over the past year, and recognition that the road ahead is still long, while planning what development/progress we must aim to celebrate on the next Independence Day. As individuals, we can take this opportunity to demand action on the challenges we face, and to seek answers if the promises of the previous year have not been delivered upon. Progress should not mean higher GDPs, but higher standards of living across the board,with a special emphasis on workers and farmers who are the engine of our economy. As a nation, we must stop buying into the notion of 'India Shining' that our politicians seek to feed us. Such beliefs only bring in a sense of complacency among us, the people, and help policy makers kick back and take breaks on the job without being held accountable for it. The India we know should be the India we hear of everyday : the one where farmer suicides, lack of foodgrain storage, improper water management, a broken PDS, internal conflicts still dominate headlines! Let's demand constructive action on those fronts first, and then find time to celebrate our progress as a nation on those counts on August 15th the next year. As long as these issues hang like nooses around our collective necks, how can we celebrate? If we do not show the sensitivity to pay heed to the headaches of our own people, who can? Would that then, not be a betrayal of whatever progress we've made in the years since independence? We cannot distance ourselves from the misery of the masses and embrace the good fortune of a few, for it would breed discontent. We rise or fall together, so unless each of us finds a sentimental attachment to the 15th of August, its significance will continue to wane in the public conscience, which will prove to be the harbinger of the destruction of our most prized character as a nation : our unity in diversity.