Independence Day?

August 15th 1947, India becomes an independent nation.

August 15th 2011, India is still feeling proud about getting Independence 64 years ago.

Since morning I've been receiving text messages wishing me a happy independence day and that people are proud to be indians, patriotism is in the air, etc. I just have one thing to tell you all. "Wake Up" people. Its been 64 years since India got Independence and for how long more will we feel proud about the same thing and keep saying we are proud to be Indians, partiotism is in the air, etc. You don't need an Independence Day to feel patriotic or feel proud about your country. How come we don't see any of us saying these things on days other than August 15th of January 26th?

Independence Day, 

• Is not about sitting at home and watching Gandhi or Roja in National Television or any of the other special programs that are telecasted in almost all the channels.
• Is not about buying new stuff because all the stores are giving discounts.
• Is not about sending text messages with India Flag or India Map to all the mobile numbers in your contact list.
• Is not about about participating in a flag hoisting and getting chocolates they distribute after that.
• Is not about decorating the cubicles and iles in your work place with Indian flag.
• Is not about making the Indian flag your facebook profile picture.
• Is not about putting up messages like "Patriotism is in the air," "Feel proud to be an Indian." in your facebook or twitter profiles.
• Is not about going to a multiplex and watching a movie that released on that day.
• Is not about setting Vande Mataram song as your ring tone.
• Is not about wearing ethnic wear to work.

The real independence is when we as a race come together to make this country a better place. In my opinion, there a couple of things this country needs to act on immediately. (There are quite a few fellow Indians who have started to act on the below two but a majority of us are yet to commence)

Stop Reporducing:

The country is facing a terrible population crisis and we still plan for and feel proud about having 2 to 3 kids when even one kid seems way too much.

          - Why do you think we can't keep our cities

            clean?

          - Why do you think our public property

            can't be maintained in good shape?

          - Why do you think education, healthcare,

            oil, gas and everyother basic necessity is

            getting way too expensive day by day?

Because all these can remain in control only if the number of people it is being catered to is under control. We as a race seem to reproduce like rabbits and we are just adding more and more people each day making it difficult for us manage all these efficiently. We produce more kids each year and send them to schools and then we sit an complain about the donation we have to pay for the school to build a bigger facility to manage the increased number of children. Most of the problems this country is facing today have had a direct or an indirect impact due the population crisis. We already have enough stomachs to feed and we don't have the infrastructure to address this, how much more difficult do you want this to get?

Stop Pollution:

The whole world has been crying about the emission levels and the need to bring it under control. We don't seem to listen. More and more people each year results in more and more energy being consumed and we what are we giving back to planet earth in return? more pollution to fight with!

Just step out on the street and take a look at the number of vehicles we have and just take a look at the number of vehicles that emit thick black or white smoke and take a look at the traffic cop who doesn't even care to stop them and enquire. And we just won't stop honking wihile on the road.

We go after things that are cheap and end up damaging the environment which will take ages to fix. We still seem to be standing strong with the "I don't care what happens to the world after I am gone" attitude. Our government participates in Climate Change summits only to ensure that we get our attendance recorded. We need to act now, its already too late and how much longer will we wait?

The real independence is when we as a nation get to gether and work towrds making this a better country. If we don't act today, at the rate we a going, a few years from now we will not have a reason to feel proud about being Indians on August 15th.

I will be publishing more articles on the above two topics and how we can make a difference in the coming days. Do watch out for this space. Until then please give this some serious thought and action.

  

(Note: Pictures in this article have been randomly picked from google.)