Independence Day - Just Another 24 Hours

Qsn :- What is the significance of August 15th?
Ans :- Well you know, hmm, you know one of those important dates...hehehe...hmmm. Ok fine.It is an off day but awfully a boring one as it is a dry day. God only knows for what and why. The idiotic civic authorities should have their asses spanked black and blue for such a horrendous decision and *$@#^&*....

Hang on. We got the answer.No frustrations please.

I won't be surprised if this is the answer from one of those smarty pants of current generation. Many keep a note of this day (now-a-days), more for it being a dry day than our independence day and make sure to stack their refrigerators with adequate amount of beer the previous night, so that the off day doesn't become an utterly boring one. No wonder guys like Saheed Bhagat Singh would be feeling ashamed to divulge their identity to fellow inmates up in heaven and cursing themselves for fighting all through their lives and dieing to make this day a reality.

More than blaming and feeling sorry it is time for some introspection. People realize the significance when you value them. First question we should ask ourselves before blaming - are we valuing our independence? For that matter, did we ever valued it to begin with? The other day I heard my four year old niece reciting a poem while rehearsing for her independence day function in school. 'God save my country. God save my tricolor, God save my leaders'.

God save my leaders? - quite an irony isn't it? Even a toddler is praying for her so called leaders. What the leaders are doing in return for her? Looting around. Syphoning even the money meant to be spend on the development of these very toddlers like my niece. Indulging in every sort of nefarious activity that our IPC talks about. Certainly, these buffoons need more prayers for their good health so that they can continue uninterrupted. I wish my niece doesn't grow up to see the dirty side of these crooks and end up reciting 'God save my country.God save my tricolor. God save everyone except these scoundrel leaders' or worse losing her faith completely on the value of independence and democracy.

Honestly we went wrong from the time Pandit Nehru hoisted our tricolor for the first time back in 1947. With utmost respect to our national anthem - I have one or two objections to it. We were fresh out of a brutal partition full with bloodshed. The general psyche was against the Muslims and none seems to fancy the word secularism back then. Not even great thinkers like Nehru or Patel. But that doesn't make us smart fellows to choose a song which was primarily written for the welcome ceremony of King George V , as our national anthem. "Taba Suva Name Jage, Taba Subha Asisha Mage. Gaye taba jaya gatha". Why on earth we would beg (perpetually) for the blessings of a seasoned thug who sucked us for the better part of his life? Why we will recite his jaya gatha when he might not have done any good work worth praising.

Guys who defend this mockery of our great nation through this anthem as they believe it is not the king but the God who is referred, should be asked to keep their hypocrisy to themselves. If we are thinking of a true nation building then first we have to admit our mistakes, even if it happens to be the selection of our national anthem. Muhammad Iqbal's 'Sare Jahan Se Achha' was thrown to the dustbin only because he was a Muslim. This is not nation building for sure, when you compromise with the national pride for your political gains and keep on defending your blunder for the rest of your life.

Our tricolor was not free from controversies. Even if it was hoisted first time in 1947, it was officially accepted as our national flag in 1950. All these three years discussions were going behind close doors with suggestions coming from all corners on how to build up another hypocrisy. Initially our tricolor was rejected as it was more religious centric. Namely Green for the Muslims. Saffron for the Hindus and white for all other religions. A fight was there to decide which color should be at the top. You can very well guess which religion would be fighting for what color . Thankfully somebody explained (read hypocrisy) that the colors doesn't represent any religion but peace, unity and harmony respectively. Our forefathers are hypocritical about our national flag even and they expect us to value the democracy and independence.

If these starting jolts were not enough, the leaders those who followed did more damage to the value of a free nation than resurrecting it. Corruption has become our new national anthem of late. A murder convict like Vikash Yadav can come out of jail as and when he wishes. Another spoiled brat in the name of Manu Sharma can come out of jail on a pleasure trip and go on honouring most of the pubs in Delhi. A minister can gulp down few thousand crores of public money and was never questioned of his conduct. In the name of national pride (CWG) few crooks go on a money laundering mission putting the whole nation's prestige at stake. A serving chief minster (until recently) was a fugitive and was in the run in a murder case. An idiot like Abdul Nasir Madni can carryout serial blasts in one of our cities and still dictate his terms on how and where he should be arrested. A chief minister doesn't know the word development but go on spending thousand of crores on building her and her mentor's statues. A certain joker like M.F.Hussain can portray our goddesses nude as if they are porn stars and still be hailed for his creativity. Among all these and many more such national and democratic casualties we are expected to value our independence and democracy. Quite a huge expectation, I must say. My heartfelt apologies to Bhagat Singh and thousand other great souls - it is difficult to remain patriotic amidst all this.

God give some sense to these leaders and politicians. If not for anyone they should act in a positive manner for the toddlers like my niece. Let these toddlers not lose their faith in their praying . Let them feel proud praying for their leaders and of course proud of our independence and independence day. Hope we will not let this day be a mear 24 hours and only remembered as just another dry day.