'Our local Congress leader Tenneti Viswanatham hoisted the Indian Tricolour flag at the stroke of midnight—a historic moment, before which we were subjugated, and after which we turned sovereign. Was that all so simple, straightforward, smooth? For a moment, it looked too abstract, intangible, symbolic, intellectual, away from the realm of the ground realities of life. I got up the next morning to the same reality that was there the day before. At streets, the common people were not even talking about freedom. In fact they slept well that night and were having no hangover. Life was absolutely routine and unchanged for them. Semantics apart, did I feel any change?"
For many years I found my mission in living in a free India. What does it really mean to live in a free country? What does constitute freedom for an individual? Are the people crowding the roads not free? Free to smoke, free to litter, free to reproduce irresponsibly, free to shun the light of reason and education and live under darkness of superstition, black magic and occult. Are people owning land not free? Free to use it as a tool to govern the lives of others rather than as a business asset and capital resource.. Are people holding government positions not free? Free to derive personal profit from every public issue. In fact, I found no real evidence of some real extraneous source of injustice or exploitation, something bad that can be truly attributed to the British Rule. To me everything appeared perfectly intrinsic, like a bacterium taking over the entire organism. The departure of the British, however, created a void as far as the target of my aggression and restlessness was concerned. Instead of dwelling on such deeper and depressing questions, I thought it better to focus on my studies without any further delay or newer distraction.
For many years I found my mission in living in a free India. What does it really mean to live in a free country? What does constitute freedom for an individual? Are the people crowding the roads not free? Free to smoke, free to litter, free to reproduce irresponsibly, free to shun the light of reason and education and live under darkness of superstition, black magic and occult. Are people owning land not free? Free to use it as a tool to govern the lives of others rather than as a business asset and capital resource.. Are people holding government positions not free? Free to derive personal profit from every public issue. In fact, I found no real evidence of some real extraneous source of injustice or exploitation, something bad that can be truly attributed to the British Rule. To me everything appeared perfectly intrinsic, like a bacterium taking over the entire organism. The departure of the British, however, created a void as far as the target of my aggression and restlessness was concerned. Instead of dwelling on such deeper and depressing questions, I thought it better to focus on my studies without any further delay or newer distraction.
No comments:
Post a Comment