Showing posts with label Freedom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Freedom. Show all posts

Friday, August 15, 2008

Independence

As I tuned into the radio this morning I heard the song ‘Bharat hum ko jaan se pyara hai…’ when I wondered is it so? And thought that if it’s true then why are patriotic songs played only on national holidays? Why doesn’t any one remember the martyrs on any other day? What exactly is the significance of these days (January 26th, August 15 and October 2nd) in our lives?

To be honest, for us, these are mere days of relaxation and recreation. Most of us don’t even bother to go to our institutions for the flag hoisting, we simply enjoy the day either by sleeping more or having a hang out with family and friends! We don’t value the independence just because we didn’t do any thing to achieve it… we opened our eyes in a free state, we never breathed the air of prison, we never were ever ruled by any foreign nation… should we not value the cost of millions of martyrs who spoilt there presence and sacrificed there future for us? Don’t we have any responsibility towards our nation? We have but we don’t give a damn for it, we plan for our betterment and not for the country’s!

They say that today, we have already achieved sixty years of independence… but are we really free? I don’t think so! We are still their slaves… we feel proud, to use foreign multinational products, to work in foreign multinational companies. In other words its not pride, its slavery! None of us bother about the nations problems… we do read newspapers just to have a general awareness and are least interested where the country is going! We admire the corrupt people, for instance take the case of an actor imprisoned a few days back, the whole day news channels kept on covering his imprisonment, his songs and movies being telecasted on each and every national channel, be it television or FM! People said that they felt sad, that their (so called) hero was imprisoned, and I pity them! Was he the real hero? We have easily forgotten the real life hero like S. K. Dubey! (I wonder how many have recognized him!) And say that we love our nation… do we? We admire such people (as the actor mentioned above) who are selling the country for their own betterment… who are valuing the Nation’s freedom with a few currency notes!!! Do you still think that we love our nation?

I doubt how many of us can speak fluent Hindi, or say aloud; all the swaras and vanjans (vowels and consonants) used in the National language, or use the Hindi Dictionary! I’m sure only a few, and the worst part is that we feel proud of it! What a shame! Is this what we should be proud of? Is this for what martyrs like Bhagat Singh and Subhash Chandrs Bose sacrificed their lives? I don’t say that foreign multinationals or English should be banned… but we should use them, but we should not forget our culture!

Simply hoisting the flag for a day or singing or playing patriotic songs for the day doesn’t mean we are proud of the Nation… it should come from the heart. Have you ever wondered that millions of Indian National flags are sold on the eve before such days, but what happens to them after that? They are trampled beneath our legs! After the eve of independence we don’t care for the flags, we again preoccupy ourselves into our daily schedule, and that flag left all alone to be crushed and dishonored, awaiting for the arrival of next National day where it can get its lost respect! Don’t buy it if you lack the respect for it!

Its time now, when the generation should awaken… Feel proud of being an Indian, wearing Indian brands, eating with hands, speaking Hindi and following Hinduism! Don’t be a slave of foreign multinationals or corrupt nationalists who are selling the Nation to the hands of foreigners… set you self free… value the Nations independence… and do contribute for its welfare and upbringing. It is independent… and do care that it remains!



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Monday, February 18, 2008

Freedoms is all about


What is freedom?
a teacher was asked
by the youngest pupil
of the class

The teacher said
you come with me
and I’ll tell you
what it means

So after the class
they went together
walking down the road
in a pleasant weather

And suddenly the teacher
asked to stop
in front of a small
bird sellers shop

Birds in pairs
were sitting in cages
while the owner was busy
counting profit on pages

The teacher went in
bought a pair
and carried the cage
with utmost care

Then he asked the pupil
to follow him till
they reached a smal
land a lush green hill

Then the teacher said
now let me see
if u can understand
what freedom means

He raised the cage
and opened its gate
and set free at once
the bird and its mate

The bird and its mate
flew high in the sky
and the teacher smiled
and watched them fly

Then he threw down the hill
the cage and its key
the pupil now knew
what it means to be free...




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Monday, August 13, 2007

FREEDOM...Does it Exist?????


I saw this particular article on a website of a leading daily which talks about people giving their own views about freedom. I know anyways my article is never going to be featured there. So let me put it right here on my own blog.


To start with, “What is freedom?”. Isn’t that a strange question??? You may be wondering what is wrong with me and why I have become so patriotic. Even I don’t know why, but every year this time round I end up writing something like this.

To tell you the truth I really don’t know what freedom is. To realize what freedom is, you must first be in a position to not have it. But thankfully we have been blessed with freedom. We were born in a free country. Our parents gave us total freedom to do whatever we wished.


I took up a profession of my choice. Unlike some of my compatriots who took a particular profession because they had no other choice or their parents forced them, I have been actually blessed.
Now since I have very little idea to what freedom really is I don’t really feel all that confident about blabbing about it, although this blog is meant for that purpose only :). But I feel that independence is about doing what you wish to without hurting or pushing others in the course of your life. Probably in the pre 1947 era our ancestors struggled because there was a barrier for Indians to do everything.


Indians were not allowed in certain coaches or clubs or schools. There was this British club which used to write, "Indians and Dogs not Allowed". Guess where racism has its roots.
To say that we were not racist is technically not correct. We had the so called caste based system in place of the race based system. That’s the same wine in a different bottle.


After 60 years of political abolishment of all these practices, it’s sad to see that people are more inclined towards being called of a certain caste than not. Caste culture has been fueled further by our government. Probably the same government which at one point in history wanted all Indians to move together is classifying people. The Gurjar violence is an offshoot of this seed of caste based reservation.


The closest I have come to not having freedom has been but for Reservation. Well, when I was in Engineering College and I paid close to 50k as fees because I could not get a rank good enough for free seat in an A grade college. But then I saw that I had a classmate who paid less than 10k. I used to reach college by bus while that fellow used to ride his car to college. He was definitely no more brilliant than me nor did he have a rank better than mine. So what did he have…..you would know that.
So am I really blessed with freedom or is it an illusion strong enough to make me believe that I am independent.


WHEN DO WE GET INDEPENDENCE???
Maybe when we ban the caste system or maybe when the government stops using it as election material.
Till then, Freedom is for sure not full. Incompetent people holding important posts based on caste and creed will only lead to complex web of corruption.
There may come a day when all this gets eliminated, till then lets do our bit to remove it which has been ingrained in our system.


Jai Hind.

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Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Freedom



We hold in our hands, the most precious gift of all: Freedom. The freedom to express our art. Our love. The freedom to be who we want to be. We are not going to give that freedom away and no one shall take it from us!

It seems, in this world, that there is no such thing as freedom any more. To go anywhere in this world, you need a passport, and to stay there you need the right visas, to work there you also need the appropriate visas. You need a license for practically everything you would want to do. Everything costs so much money, and it seems that even working full time jobs doesn't always pay the bills. Each country preaches that it is free, and then puts people in prison or charges them immense fines because they couldn't afford to pay their bills or taxes. People go to prison or pay fines for defending themselves against an attacker, or because they smoked something "illegal" or drank alcohol simply because they are not old enough to, and yet these people are often old enough to fight for their country. In a war, citizens are drafted or conscripted and forced to fight an enemy that they have never met, and often caused them no insult. Countries are occupied and told that the way they want to live is wrong, and that they have to change. Most of the time the only explanation given to someone being arrested or fined for a "crime" is that "it's against the law." Well, why is it? "I don't know, it just is." That's not good enough. Why was government formed? To get the people everything that they needed. I see homeless starving on the streets, begging for money, people living in poverty, and women raising children alone because their father died in some war... and yet people are not free. It seems to me that government has abused its power, and is no longer performing its job, but instead is attempting to control the masses. Some day, maybe not today, maybe not for 100 years, the people will say that they've had enough. I will be among them, in this life or the next. Perhaps you do not agree with what I have said, and perhaps we share very different ideologies about life, spirituality, and that sort of thing. Perhaps we disagree on a lot of things, but I shall lay down my life so that you have the freedom to disagree! Cheers.

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