India, Please Liberate Me!!

They say think twice before you speak, because your words become your character but what good is a character that is not able to reform anything!!

Talking about reforms, we just celebrated our 70^th Independence Day 2 days ago and it fills my heart to see the amount of patriotism flowing on social media.

People who don’t utter a word against the wrong or even the right, write paras about independence and the struggle involved in attaining freedom just to make sure they are following the herd!!

Then there are people who complain about the ‘N’ number of things wrong with our country and hence according to them, we lose the right to celebrate the only day we dress up like our beloved “Tiranga”.

Well there are few thoughts that have bothered me time and again and I wish to pen them down. The way they have a disclaimer in the movies, I do not wish to offend any person or religion!!

• Why are 3-year olds raped and molested in the same country where the birth of nand kishore kanha is celebrated with such splendor and vigor. We even had an 8^th girl raped right after Independence Day celebration, what about the millions of incidents that go untold.
• Lord Ganesa has the head of an elephant and of what little I have known, he is known to be param brahma(first to be worshipped among all lords) and yet we resort to discrimination based on looks, color and sometimes even stoop to the level of body shaming.
• Holy books talk about making the women of your household self sufficient and treating them with love and respect and yet we are discriminated against.
• Muslim Freedom Fighters had an evident role to play in the freedom struggle and yet we struggle to have equal treatment of religions.
• We complain about India not doing well in Olympics, yet we worship only cricket as a sport.
• We complain about lack of amenities however when we are provided with them we do not make the best use of them.

We are aware but not fully informed. We don’t read about our rights and duties. Most of us are like the herd of sheep that just follow each other. We are part of protests, we forward messages on social media, we give interviews, talk about issues with friends, parents, colleagues etc. but we never really take the first step.

If you want a transformation, you need to transform first. For example, you adapt to a healthy lifestyle if you want to be fit. You don’t need to start a revolution, you just need to ignite the fire!!

If you have the knowledge, share it, spread it!!

If you want sports to grow, help your child develop interest in a sport of their choice and not yours.

If you want your kids to be safe, teach them how. Have open conversations, they can be embarrassing but will help them.

If your son wants to help with the housework, let him, it may help someone’s daughter tomorrow.

Alternative careers can be fruitful too given the right amount of sustenance.

If you need an unsoiled nation, you need to take measures to reduce what’s in excess!!

My thoughts and your thoughts can differ, can be endless. You can have a debate with me over the ‘why’s and how’s’ and still some of us will remain unbothered because we are used to the “hota hain, chalta hain”, attitude.

We attained independence 70yrs ago. There are people who risk their everything to protect us. Their wages and benefits might be way lesser than what some of us get. Let their efforts not go in vain. Educate someone, feed someone, protect someone, be honest with someone, help someone!

It’s not the independence that we need, its liberation from a myriad of things, some big, some small. Liberation has to begin with me……with you!!