India celebrates 62 years of freedom

“India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grandmother of tradition. Our most valuable and most astrictive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only!” — Mark Twain.

Heartiest wishes on 62^nd Indian Independence Day to all the citizens of a free nation. Long live independence!

India got its independence at the dawn of 15^th August 1947 from the British Empire and became a republic on 26^th January 1950 by adopting its own constitution.

Yes, the cost of this independence is a lot more, which cannot be estimated in monetary terms. Our independence came after millions were martyred, heritage and culture was wrecked, country was divided and hatred was implanted. Collectively, more than 10 million people crossed the borders, from a newly born Pakistan (including Bangladesh, at that time it was East Pakistan) to India and vice versa. British played their last card of dividing a great nation forever and putting a whole region into a never ending conflict. Their plans were similar to what French did to Lebanon, Russians did to Afghanistan, Japan did to Korea and Spain did to South American nations.

We are still facing problems which I don’t want to discuss today and would like to focus more on the achievement part. Fortunately, our somehow regulated financial system is still trying to save us from the claws of the ongoing economic crisis. We are still expecting a positive growth rate of 6% and aiming towards a revival of 9% growth rate. We are a full fledge nuclear nation and a Super Power in our own right, although we still have a huge chunk of population struggling to earn their daily bread. Oops!

We have right to education act, women’s bill, guaranteed employment scheme, huge infrastructure plans, new airports, we are focused on energy saving, IT is our strength, we are going to host Common Wealth Games next year, IPL was hosted in South Africa this year, Metro is expanding in Gurgaon and Nodia, our children are getting pure milk, we hardly have H1N1, inflation is in control, Sensex is showing a V shaped recovery, we have an Indian Formula 1 team (only drivers are foreigners), our new cricket coach was a great batsman, Sania got engaged, SRK came back from South Africa during IPL to cast his vote, Reality TV is a new trend, Lalu Prasad is quite these days, corruption is a matter of give and take, Abhishek had a hair cut (his ads are doing better than his movies), sting operations are taken seriously and finally we can see some Tata Nanos on road.

Let’s not forget the sacrifice of our freedom fighters and work together towards the growth and prosperity of this great nation.

Jai Hind!

Image: Mahatma Gandhi as ‘Man of the year’ on the covers of Time Magazine.  Year 1931