15th Aug 2015
India celebrated independence day this year as we do every year - every state celebrates with its own mighty displays of police drills, politicians ( mostly wear pure white Indian-style clothes to show their patriotism) and bureaucrats giving patriotic speeches, watch in awe as our prime minister walks proudly to the top of Red Fort, New Delhi, accompanied by top army salutes and delivers passionate speech. All the PMs talk about what schemes their party rule has implemented or propose to implement for the upliftment of poor. One will hear Garib(i) many times generally. All speeches are intended to invoke patriotism.
As I am walking in my 65th year of existence , many things dawn on me. What does freedom mean to me? What do I want? for myself, for my country?
For me I want freedom from fear and expectations from others . I realise pains emanate from my unfounded fears built over years since childhood and I wish to be totally free of them. When ever I expect some actions/words/things from others ( which is most of the time) and that does not happen, it causes pain - So I want freedom from these two root causes of pains for me. This is just for this year 15th Aug. Every Independence day the type of freedom need changes
For my dear countrymen I want freedom from corruption , mediocrity and wasteful govt expenditures. Corruption is so rooted in our systems that if we rid of it we will emerge as the Greatest place to live on earth pushing Garibi out for good.
Mediocrity is the bane of all walks of life and if we can make excellence push out mediocrity from our very existence , India will emerge sparkling Swatch . Mediocrity manifests itself everywhere - from not following traffic rules to spitting and trashing in public, to bad roads full of pot holes, sub standard goods and services sold at premium prices, and thousand other manifestations. Corruption and mediocrity are two sides of the same coin.
We celebrate publicly Independence day, Republic day, death of political personalities and thousand other instances of massive public shows at huge public expenditure - if we can economise on these and instead spend the same money in building and funding schools, paying higher salaries to work forces, empowering police and defence personnel with better facilities - oh so many things need to be done to improve the basic quality of life.
OMG - I need Freedom from too much thinking!!
India celebrated independence day this year as we do every year - every state celebrates with its own mighty displays of police drills, politicians ( mostly wear pure white Indian-style clothes to show their patriotism) and bureaucrats giving patriotic speeches, watch in awe as our prime minister walks proudly to the top of Red Fort, New Delhi, accompanied by top army salutes and delivers passionate speech. All the PMs talk about what schemes their party rule has implemented or propose to implement for the upliftment of poor. One will hear Garib(i) many times generally. All speeches are intended to invoke patriotism.
As I am walking in my 65th year of existence , many things dawn on me. What does freedom mean to me? What do I want? for myself, for my country?
For me I want freedom from fear and expectations from others . I realise pains emanate from my unfounded fears built over years since childhood and I wish to be totally free of them. When ever I expect some actions/words/things from others ( which is most of the time) and that does not happen, it causes pain - So I want freedom from these two root causes of pains for me. This is just for this year 15th Aug. Every Independence day the type of freedom need changes
For my dear countrymen I want freedom from corruption , mediocrity and wasteful govt expenditures. Corruption is so rooted in our systems that if we rid of it we will emerge as the Greatest place to live on earth pushing Garibi out for good.
Mediocrity is the bane of all walks of life and if we can make excellence push out mediocrity from our very existence , India will emerge sparkling Swatch . Mediocrity manifests itself everywhere - from not following traffic rules to spitting and trashing in public, to bad roads full of pot holes, sub standard goods and services sold at premium prices, and thousand other manifestations. Corruption and mediocrity are two sides of the same coin.
We celebrate publicly Independence day, Republic day, death of political personalities and thousand other instances of massive public shows at huge public expenditure - if we can economise on these and instead spend the same money in building and funding schools, paying higher salaries to work forces, empowering police and defence personnel with better facilities - oh so many things need to be done to improve the basic quality of life.
OMG - I need Freedom from too much thinking!!
