Follow the trail back to 1947, am pretty sure you can reminiscent the tryst of destiny made by Nehru with the fate of nation; “At the stroke of midnight hour, when the world sleeps India will awake to life and freedom..” Yeah! I made you follow the trail towards something which practically none of us have witnessed but have heard about in various speeches, plays, essays etc.
So basically, it’s another Sunday morning eventually the 15th day of August and am here, supposedly writing about our motherland as asked by my couple of friends. The above, ‘tryst of destiny' is something that I googled fraction of minutes ago and quite kind of found it cool and probably used it to kick-start my write-up. Am still here with the writer's block and I believe I’ll just go with the flow and keep this open- ended as possible.
It becomes a cypher evidently, perplexing enough to decode, when I think about a nation like India. On a side, we’ve a dynamic and resurging nation, all the way paving a path towards its promising future amongst the global diaspora and on the other hand when we dive into the grassroots of nation, one can see the wretched chunk of nation which predominantly subjects the under-privileged commoners of the nation. We've come far away, haven’t we? 75 years, they’re! Now I want you to pin the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word INDIA, all I want you to be is being honest and more receptive of your own thoughts..! Once, you’re done with this activity, visualise the kind of INDIA you want it to be. Analyse. Is there any contradiction? Now hold on.
I already performed relevant activity with some of my friends and received a very diverse response for the same. Gateway of India, Dharavi, secularism, democracy , age old customs, Reliance- Tata, Sushruta, poverty, voodoo, taboo, biases on various fronts, etc. And, when asked to visualise, their India was quite differing from the reality. Obviously, where was the visualised India residing?
People usually tend to see things in black and white. And , so is the case when we’re to comment about our nation. India holds its affluence in its culture and diversity. The grandeur of the country is centralised itself in its composition, the people..! Despite, the coffers of the heritage in the form of its culture and diversity, it holds; one cannot ignore the glitches thereof. What make these glitches evident, is the fact that they're direct or indirectly impacting the common masses. Indubitably, the greatest asset of a nation lies in its citizens..! If at all nation is going to be on its rise or decline, it would be marked according to the situation of people in the nation.
I don’t know, if am apt to conclude anything about the nation or being critical about the same, at least until now; when am not in a position where am aware of the complete ground reality or the impact forces. But, being the vigilant citizen of the nation I strongly believe that if anything at all can create a conduit between the present and the visualised India then it lies nowhere but within us..! The word ‘Patriotism’ literary means national loyalty. With the entire concept of patriotism, I possibly comprehend and believe that we can be truly loyal to our nation only if we actually work on our inner fortitude. If we strengthen ourselves, it'll be reflected in our conduct, amongst the social groups, the society we live in and eventually the national spirit. The Constitution emphasizes on the virtues of secularism, rights, equality, liberalism, etc. One needs not to be told about the reality; since the surrounding being self explanatory.
The real sense of wellbeing in a nation is concentrated at a micro level-if there’s co-ordination, harmony and mutual trust amongst the commons, then there would be unison amongst them which would fortify the progress in long term. Nobility of one’s character is the key for progression of the nation. If all of us come together, become more open, inclusive and empathetic towards each other a major change can be witnessed. When we’re empathetic towards others we tend to keep ourselves in their shoes, thus ensuring that we search for the best possible solution for the entire ailment. It’s a high time that we live and let live!
Our nation has undergone and survived a load of turmoil. India was under the clutches of external power, which hampered it’s existence. It also did emerge out of it independently after a rigorous struggle. Maybe, it was one of the prime causes for miseries throughout the nation. Straight to the current day, somewhere we’re still held back by those shackles. And this time, we’re handcuffed by our own limiting beliefs and a tendency to control others, thereby restricting the impeccability that our nation can achieve. I firmly believe on this notion that if anything is potent to bridge that gap between our visualised India then it would be ensured by we becoming more inclusive and supportive, forgiving of others. Being proud of our roots and carrying them, their essence will ensure our exclusivity in the world which in turn would inscribe our legacy!
Statistics say that India holds the world’s largest number of youth; which has potential to be a boon for the nation. Evidently, this means that we’re able to decide the destiny of our nation all by ourselves. Our actions, decisions, perspective can make or mar our nation..! We cannot afford wasting our time by criticising the policies of government, the politics, the practices, the past, the present, the institutions, the destruction caused etc.; the list keeps on going. But, by learning and unlearning certain things, being inclusive, respecting the individuality of others, by being the constructive critics, supporting and educating each other, promoting creativity & innovation, sharing progressive ideologies, flaunting our culture, coming and bringing others out of the box of disbelief, being the vigilant citizens and thus being the best version of ourselves. No power, disease can overshadow us if we stand tall for each other. Nothing can stop us from reaching the zenith if we believe in ourselves. We’re trapped under something unless and until we think that we do. So here comes the time to break that cage & create the history; for this is the time for REVOLUTION. Let’s be the government, the institution, the drivers of destiny & watch ourselves getting closer to the visualised India.
Let’s make the स्वतंत्रता Real..!