Happy Independance Day!!!

We Indians celebrate our 60th year of Independence today (15th August '06).
And we at 61, Abbots Wharf had our own small flag hoisting ceremony! ;-)
Today I choose to look back.....
Look back and remember the sacrifices made by millions of people to bring us where we are today.
We have fought long and hard for our Independence.
All these sacrifices have not gone waste...and India, our motherland is now free.

But, now what?
What do we do, now that we are independent?
We always crib that India is this....India is that....
What do we do to make India a better place?
I very well accept the fact that I am happy that I am not anyone's slave. But I am still a slave to my passions... We are still very much in balls and chains....bound tightly to our religious beliefs...castism and racism...
Then, what are we happy about?
If we read the newspapers, all the headlines today indicate that India is on an high alert. The PM, in his address to the nation, asks Pakistan to stop cross-border terrorism. Pakistan responds immidiately asking India for proof for the same.
The PM's address can be read here.

I remember Tagore's beautiful poem, which I learned in the 7th Grade.

"WHERE the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake."

That is perfect freedom. And in order to attain it, each of us need to play our part.
This Independence Day, India beckons you to do your part!

I wish you all a wonderful Independence...today and evermore.

Cheers.