Happy Independence Day, friends wished me on Facebook, WhatsApp and email, filling up all my inboxes! There were pictures of the Tricolour, of the prime minister, of the president, of the parliament building, of the armed forces, and people from different states in the messages. Pictures of so many people and symbols committed to the cause of the nation born 70 years ago. The messages left me glowing with pride in my nation and I shared them with glee.
So many people are celebrating today – How do I know? Television and social media. It seems to me the new definition of freedom is freedom to express your thoughts on social media without being trolled.
70 years in the life of a man is considered a good age to prepare for death. On the other hand 70 years in the life of a nation is but infancy, and there lies the contrast. Since that fateful day in 1947, a lot of water has flown under the bridge. Some bridges have collapsed and some of the water has evaporated, leaving behind barrenness and distress, while in other cases, the cup has overflowed, and never stopped.
There are contrasts too, Great Britain may possibly have to drop the prefix ‘Great’ soon, as the British, our rulers for more than 200 years are themselves struggling to keep their country together. However salt is still being taxed, of our own free will I may add, we still follow British laws to apprehend and punish our criminals, and our criminals now flee to Britain to escape these very same laws. Life goes on, confirming the adage, what goes around comes around.
After 70 years though, we are still diverse, but more united than we were then, better placed financially, socially and militarily, and able to compete with the rest of the world on an equal footing, not as a dominion of another’s will. We are even able to support a few countries in their time of distress, something that we had looked to others to do to us 70 years ago.
So I’m free and I am celebrating. But then I start thinking and I get confused, really confused. Am I free? Is my country free? Is the world free? The more I ask these questions of myself the more confused I get. For while there are no physical restrictions on body, my tongue or my ear, I live in a world where everything is virtually restricted by my fellow human beings, the very same people who fought beside my forefathers to evict the British 70 years ago. They say it’s for my own good. Much like the British did many years ago. Only they were foreign, these are my own. But there are perhaps valid reasons for that.
Freedom can only be ensured by a mature democracy and it will always have a price. Democracy is the rule of the majority, by the majority, for the majority (likeminded people) and therefore freedom will also be circumscribed by what is known as the public good, in other words the good of the majority, and perhaps there lies the fundamental issue.
It can never be an equal freedom as envisaged at the time of the freedom movement, because the goal posts have shifted. Equal freedom is determined by legal equality, which is well documented but rarely implemented, due to economic and social inequality. This is not about to change. However something is definitely better than nothing and we in India are privileged that we have more than just something.
Like in a man’s life, there have been ups and downs in the life of this great nation. Nothing really to be perturbed about. It’s how we ride the crests and brave the troughs that will win us the race… But is it about winning? Winning against whom? And for what, are the questions we must answer, before we share the next Happy Independence message.
