my take on independance day...

As the morning Independence Day special episode was done, I went over to the make up room to freshen myself up. Since this was a national holiday, there was a sense of ease in the otherwise rush hour of the make up room. Quite obviously, there was ample scope of gossip and discussions. Taking this opportunity, one of my colleagues from the news department asked me….. “Do you think we are really independent?”


Every year on 15th August, this is the ‘in question’. Come independence day and most people have this question on the tip of their tongues. I am sure all of you must have faced this question from neighbors, friends, colleagues, schoolmates, college union leaders, politicians (particularly those in the opposition parties). I had in fact once been asked this question from a stranger in the public bus!!!


Do you think we are really independent?

Quite obviously this question is primarily asked in a rhetoric tone, and your expected answer is ‘no’. The person asking this question asks it with ready arguments on how the country is not independent and we are still chained in the shackles of poverty, population, bureaucracy, corruption and so many other ills of society.

Well, I am writing this note for the benefit of all those who have ever asked me this question and would ask me the same on the coming years. This is an endeavor to spare their efforts as well as mine.

Are we really independent? Are we really better off than what we were a 100 years back? I believe we are. The argument that most people would come up with is that our society is not letting us breathe. It is corrupt and we are under the thumbs of the handful of powerful. Well true. But as a student of sociology, I have studied societies through time and over space. There is no society where these problems do not persist. As Rousseau put it, ‘Man is born free, but is in chains everywhere’.

Then what was the point of the freedom movement? What was the point of independence? Well, if you really understood the pulse of the society then you would know that back in those days when India was not independent, there was no right whatsoever. Today I have my own rights. I have the choice to use my rights. I have the independence to be independent. I can live my life in my own terms. I can choose the ideals that I would like to live by. And most importantly I have the right to criticize as long as I am not hurting anyone. And therefore I believe I am better off than someone who lived a 100 years back.

One of my colleagues actually pointed out that there is no real point of criticism as that does not lead to any constructive change. Although his argument makes sense, I would again like to point out on another basic fact of society. One of the most powerful agents of change is public opinion. Not just in democratic societies, but also in archaic monarchical society. And this opinion is form through public discourse. This might be from private drawing rooms to public street corners.The shisha bars, the pubs, the taverns, the theatres, the rocker theks have all served the purpose of public discourse. And most importantly what makes us or at least me, aware of the subjectivity of the events around me are these conversations. That I can carry on this these conversations is what I am grateful to those freedom fighters.