Every year, as August 15 approaches, there are posts and "media shows" by bloggers, and other forms of journalists (from the print and electronic media), freelancers and what have you .. people who are mainly in their late twenties or early thirties, who deem it their privilege to comment on whether we should be celebrating Independence on August 15 !
Such know-it-alls (who actually know very little!) will pull out recent instances of corruption, bureaucratic failures, and calamities (natural and man-made) as though those are the only yardsticks for measuring whether we should be proud of our freedom.
These idiots (and I use the word in the mildest sense!) need to understand that those who fought for freedom of the country 63 years ago (actually, those who started the struggle more than a hundred years ago, and others who willingly joined the struggle, which culminated in the events of August 15) thankfully did not have the same mindset as these idiots do. They, too, could have thought "What's the use of fighting for freedom?", "So many things are not right ! Who will set them right?" and we would probably be in a similar state as so many countries which are still dominated by Civil War. They did not fight for the sake of getting perfection in their everyday lives after August 15 .. unfortunately, after August 15 the percentage of such idiots referred to above, who will only crib about what is not right but will do precious little in whatever small way they can to stem the rot, or to appreciate and extol the virtues of the freedom that we have to exercise our free will in any walk of life, .. well, that percentage seems to be increasing : that is perhaps the one thing we should be ashamed of !
Which country or society should we compare ourselves with, to decide if we should celebrate August 15? The US? It took that country more than 230 years after Independence to elect its first African-origin President! So many ex-Governors from that country have gone to prison after being found guilty of a range of offences! Look at the numbers in their crime data .. and they have a population about 1/4 of India!
The US has invaded so many countries to suit its purpose .. oh yes, these yuppy idiots will talk about liberation of countries from the rule of tyrants .. why has none of these so-called developed Western countries "liberated" some of the South American countries or Sudan (remember Darfur?) ? The reason is in one word: oil !
India has not invaded any country or joined in the invasion of any country just to suit its purpose !
So if those know-it-alls feel there is no reason to celebrate freedom after 63 years, they have two choices: 1. Do something in their own way to improve whatever can be improved, instead of just making empty statements about loving their country etc. 2. Pack up and get out .. go to a country where they believe they can lead a better and freer life, and not be treated as a second-class citizen !
When you do not understand the value of something don't comment on it .. the bane of our electronic media and other such types !!
Yes, there are so many things which we did not wish we had, so many things that need to improve .. but there's no point in just commenting on them if we do not ourselves make a start .. how many of the above-referred idiots will talk about how dirty this country is, and yet will themselves drop snack wrappers on the roadside instead of in a dustbin ? How many of these morons will talk about corruption and yet will themselves not hesitate to bribe someone to get their work done fast in a govt. office ? As I stated earlier, if at all there's anything we should be ashamed of, it is the growing number of such hypocrites in our midst !
Let us not blame the country just because of a few shameless idiots in it !
Jai Hind !
