Independent India will be 60 years old this year.... As a child, I used to watch the tricolor unfurl on a bright August morning. People hugged, shook hands, wished each other and walked back home - to a hot piping cup of tea and snacks. They watched TV, read the newspapers - blamed the media for printing "masala", quarreled with their wives, chided their children and lazed around on the only holiday in August.
It was routine. It was normal. I was innocent.
Today I am a grown up. I am no longer impeccant. I am responsible or atleast held so. Today it is strange. I tread the forlorn streets in a foreign land through the arcade of shops in the middle of the night and wonder. I was born free unlike the very few who live to tell the tales of struggle, colonialism and exploitation.
I brood.
Would I live up to the expectations of society, family and more importantly my own? Can I survive this crest and the inevitable troughs in the offing? Would I take the country forward in whatever small way I can? The answer is a resounding - I DONT KNOW. Unfortunately yes, I dont know.
I resort to singing "Jana Gana Mana" and living a day at a time.
~ Dead Pep
For the "Other" Indepence Day, read Independence Day
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