Independence day celebrations

This comes a little after Independence day celebrations, strategically so, only when people have forgotten all about this day.

Until I was in college, I would look up to the independence and republic day celebrations. Participation in singing and other activities was fun in more than one way. For starters practice meant no need to attend lectures for a few days just before the actual day. There would be so much fun and masti just being with friends from our own and other classes. Full time pass in the name of practice, lots to eat because we had many breaks. On the day we were the important set of students that the crowd would look at. Running around looking busy was just a fad then I guess.

After I finished my graduation and there were more ‘practices’ to look up to, I started wondering about these national days. I got the time to think what really everyone is celebrating. For one I didn’t really know ‘freedom’, from what? My only knowledge of the freedom struggle was from the History books which I completely detested. Some more information trickled in from movies and tele serials about the freedom struggle. But these were too gloomy and intense for my impressionable mind. 

Till date I wonder what exactly independence is about. Is it about flashing the flag coloured clothes on these days? Is it about buying flags, wearing them on person or sticking them on the cars and throwing them away the next day?

What is independence about? I have no idea! What do I tell my child?

I come across many face book posts where people claim that they are teaching their child the value of independence by celebrating it. The celebration picture on these posts show:

•         Food cooked and decorated in the tri colour.
•         Parents and children dressed in the tri colour.
•         Broaches and caps of the tri colour

Whom are we fooling? Are the national days ONLY about tri colour? This seems too shallow to me. Patriotism comes up only on national days. On other days I see these same people crib incessantly about their own country.

What really beats me is Indians living abroad celebrating national day. No that’s not objectionable. The problem is they do this on the next holiday of the week, when it is not even relevant. Besides dual patriotism is something I find difficult to understand. Cynical you may think, but do we celebrate Diwali, Dassera or Christmas on our next holiday? No we don’t so doing so for National days just seems a matter of convenience and not patriotism.

And I am stuck with “what am I celebrating Independence from?” Something more relevant like freedom from fear, freedom from hunger, freedom from illiteracy, freedom from terrorism and freedom from poverty are things one could seek freedom from.

If you have reached this far, I want you to drop a line in the comments section below, about your thoughts on freedom.