What does 'Freedom' mean?

It is 15^th August again. Whenever I am in Mumbai on this day, I make it a point to go and attend the Flag hoisting in my school. Today was no different; I heard our national anthem, saluted our tricolor and heard the children sing poems, songs and talk about our freedom fighters and their struggle for India’ independence. As I walked home, I deliberated what to do for the rest of this holiday; after all I had done my bit for commemorating Indian independence.

Immediately as I reached home, I started reading the newspapers which were filled with what ‘freedom’ meant to people. I asked myself the very same question and these were my thoughts -

Freedom means the state of not being enslaved or imprisoned and the power to act, speak and live as you want.

But is this the ‘free India’ that many of our freedom fighters gave up their life for?

ü  What about freedom of speech and expression?

Many voices raised against injustice are silenced. There are protests, signature campaigns, and social media going viral. Then those voices are forgotten. Lala Lajpat Rai, on knowing that his end was near, had said “My spirit after me will go on exhorting you to make more sacrifices for freedom”.

How many more sacrifices will it take for me to not stop and continue raising my voice against any injustice till justice has been served? I have to get rid of my non-belief and mostly apathy towards real justice in my beloved country

ü  What about freedom to live a peaceful life irrespective of gender, religion, caste, or creed?

Mahatma Gandhi, Maulana Azad, Bhagat Singh, Sarojini Naidu, Dr. Annie Besant, Subhash Chandra Bose, Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai, Veer Savarkar, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rani Laxmibai, Ashfaqulla Khan etc. had one dream in common – A unified and free motherland.

The blood and sweat that they spilled for the sake of achieving that dream had no gender, no religion, no caste and no creed…. It was for their mother India. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee penned our national song as a hymn of praise to our motherland. Funny how we never say Father India.

Yet I see and take in the news of women being mistreated on our motherland with some protests and then I dismiss it out of mind till I hear the next case on the news. This cycle goes on and on.

I also see that the ‘Divide and Rule’ policy still works very well in India despite us being free for 69 years. Day after day, we Indian brothers and sisters are fighting against each other in the name of religion, caste and creed.

ü  What about equal opportunities for all and the freedom of choice?

The news is filled with instances of corruption, misuse of power and the like; where we steal an opportunity from another or deny another an opportunity to rise up. Forced marriages, child marriages, honor killings, dowry deaths are still a reality in our motherland. I see and dismiss it instantly thinking I am not doing it and what can I do for the victims anyway?

Again I asked myself this question - “Is this the ‘free India’ that many of our freedom fighters gave up their life for?”

Definitely Not!

Now, I can crib, complain and have lengthy discussions on everything that is wrong with my beloved country. OR I can be the change of a ‘free’ India that I want to see.

Maybe my progress will be slow, maybe my voice will be silenced but if I have not tried at all, I will be disrespecting not only my motherland but also the blood and sweat of our valiant freedom fighters with one common dream – A Unified and Free India.

I for one, make a promise to try starting today. With that food for thought, I wish all my fellow Indian brothers and sisters a very happy Independence Day!