Independence Day 2024-Part II

Has India benefited? If yes, how? how much? If not to the extent it should have, WHY?

We now cannot blame it on subjugation, the conscripted laborer Indians who went through much worse, are now the most prominent citizens in respective nations where they were taken as slaves. 

We cannot blame on invaders; we have had a straight eight decades of self-rule and governance.

We cannot blame it on segregation, or systematic knowledge monopoly or restriction, we have more mobile phones and access to information than any other country. 

Many would ask, what's wrong with how we are, we are okay with things as long as it all adds up a semblance of order amidst the chaos, we take pride in it and in the all-round mediocrity.

Where Indians shine everywhere they migrate to and make it to the very top of the social ecosystem, when it comes to India, we lack intent, will and a determined concerted effort. 

And by investing in our progressive agenda of responsible living and actions based on the ancient wisdom, we can build a bright future for us and the world. 

And now there are compelling reasons, it is more important and relevant to invoke the spirit of India now when India and the world stands greatly divided, with so many disputes, new wars and ever deepening conflicts every day and everywhere, as intolerance and division is the order of the day and where polarization and power mongering is the way, and exploitation and exclusion seems the only solution, we need to look at how India many millennia ago took on a mission to contribute, care and share a template for sustainable development, inclusive growth and collective responsibility to the progress of entire mankind. 

If India were to lead the way, we all should lead our lives the Indian way, which is based on the timeless ideals of sincere intent, ceaseless effort and continuous commitment to a larger cause and higher purpose without losing our identity and humanity. 

Even our national motto is most intriguing, 

Where Britain says “God and my right” basically for the Queen/King.

The US says, “In God we trust”, (but are not trusting each other and is currently divided).

But in India, our national motto is "Satya Meva Jayate" (truth alone triumphs) and there are convenient truths and people take it for granted. And though ironically the truth is elusive and definitely not found in the mainstream media or in the conduct of government machinery.

Yet the fact that our nation bestows the power and onus on to people in such a powerful way is intriguing. 

But the question still looms, how are we handling this bestowed power? 

The politicians, the bureaucrats, the media, the government officials and public service workers and more importantly us, the citizens of the largest democratic nation on earth, who become everything from teachers to soldiers to the coveted celebrities to condemned ministers and corrupted officials to the celebrated soldiers, it is the average person who invariably occupy every position of power in every conceivable way possible today? 

What is that we have done and what is that we are doing better than the Indians who were repeatedly attacked, killed and subjugated by the Invaders, the occupiers, the oppressors from Ghazni to Gori, from Sultans, their slave kings to Mughals, the Mongols, to the Portuguese, the French, the Dutch and the British? 

Finally, as a poetic justice, India of today is the home to all the major religions and the minorities, to refugees, hosting everyone in a multicultural sub-continent that defies odds.

How each one of us are faring today and doing what is good for the nation and its future and for the ecology, environment, the world and the planet better than those before us? 

Being Indian is not a privilege, it is responsibility, it is not a status or a title, it is an identity, and we have inherited not just the ancient glories and cultures but also the wisdom that can transform us and the world if used wisely and with discernment, understanding and respect. 

Let us at least think and if possible, act on this identity to sustain it, and if we don’t protect it, there are a million forces that is trying ceaselessly to destroy it.

Being the OG ( Original Great) is not a tag or flag that we can fashion to wear on our sleeves or display as a flag of honor that becomes debris in a weeks' time, we have to remember, we are part of what can’t be withered away, being Indian is the essence that has weathered all the storms, tsunamis and natural calamities and many man-made disasters of all kinds and yet stands amidst the three seas and mountains as an indestructible identity that transcends the seven seas and geographical boundaries, it is what unites us as Indians and as humans with conscience and confidence to take upon the responsibility to be humans and proclaim ( Yaathum Oore, Yaavarum Kelir) all world is a village and all humans are our relatives.  

When we say Namaste, we bow to the goodness in the person, when we say Jaihind, we say glory to the land that unites the world and leads the way to a progressive mankind.  

We just need to adopt this as our way of life and celebrate the opportunity to represent India. 

The pride is not restricted to Olympics or Sports or to Soldiers, it is all inclusive and across spheres and disciplines and to all Indians, even those who adopt it as home & identity.

Happy Independence Day.

Namaste and Jaihind.