Dedications

Another Independence Day gone by, and as always the same old boring routine of a PM unfurling the national flag and making another false promissory speech, and so is it in all the states where the CM and the governor show their ugly faces to the public, and theatrical salutations are done to the flag. After all the melodramatic love for the national, flags are strewn on the streets. Most like like me see it is another holiday to chill out, but jeez this time Independence Day fell on a Sunday…….Ohhhhhhh Gawd.

Got me pondering what Independence are we celebrating? I see it as more of dependence. Dependence on US for our IT exports; dependence on Russia for our defense; dependence on US for technology; to the extent India which was once self dependent and sufficient in food now needs to import.

Our intellectual work force would even squirm into a rat hole of an opportunity to make it to greener pastures; our kids pride in getting educated abroad; we shamelessly copy story lines from movies; speaking English becomes a status symbol. When are we going to get Independent from all this dependence? There is no doubt English is a language of Commerce and should be taught as a primary language, but definitely not at the cost of it being projected as superior to any other Indian language. For that matter why is Hindi a national language of India? Why can’t it be just English and the state language? Why are we not independent from this dictation of politicians, of who speaks what? Come to think of it if India really had to be associated with a national language it should have been Sanskrit and not Hindi.

Cultural dependence is another area where we are ashamed of our cultural dressing, I am not saying we not start moving around wearing dhotis, but can we patronize Indian brands. Does a pair of jeans need to be a Wrangler or a Lee? Do our suits need to be Armani? Do our watches need to be Cartier, Mont Blanc, or a Tag?

Our food habits which is now dictated by MacDonalds, Kellogs, Barista, etc. We are so dependent on these that we even tend to forget we have our own cuisine. Does a coffee need to be a Barista or a Café Coffee Day? All the examples are not cited as we start boycotting these products (would be great if we did), but can we patronize Indian products and avoid dependence on foreign goods.

Then on the other hand when will we get independence from our politicians and police who are supposed to protect us and does the complete reverse. When can we depend on them? Why is that our education more of number game and not a vocational based education, where talent can be groomed earlier? For that matter when will every child have the right to an education? When can the common man feel he has a voice and not just the media who uses it only for commercial purposes?

Why should a Bombay aim to be a Shangai or a Calcutta strive to be a London? No doubt these are hollow speeches made by our politicians and that’s it. Why can’t we not have our own identity and the world tries to emulate us. Surat could be transfigured after a plague, but do we need another plague or another revolution to gain independence from this dependence?