" THE BIRTH OF INDIA'S FREEDOM "

" The Birth of India's Freedom " - was the Top-Line of   The Times of India's  Bombay edition of 15th August 1947.

That is how 'they' declared the birth of the freedom of a nation which was till then en-capsuled in the warmth or wrath of the womb..!! Was the child called 'freedom' an offspring of surrogate mother and sacrosanct father..! No labour pain.!  No anesthesia, No surgery..! As if a docile dead-night delivery..!! Afghanistan, Burma,Pakistan, Nepal, Ceylon are but miscarriages.?? Moth eaten India ? Oh, no; Mammoth India with Mighty Polity which has withstood the test of time.  

Grand parents & parents would tell spell-bound to their younger folks how deep and devout they bore that labour pain and post delivery treatment..! Literal descriptions , dignity of historical narration or the present-day prolific oratory prudence simply can not delve into the realities of their "True & Total " yearning and sacrifices for the ' Real-Child-Freedom'. To-day when one finds a man in his forties or fifties - traveling free in Railway Trains - proudly brandishing  'The Freedom Fighter's Card' or our representatives in parliament ,dancing with bouncing bundles, or political powers producing financial powers in different means and forms; or the best of it all, the magic of managing the masses right from election stage upto 'Garibi/Garib Hatao' sonic-bang..! One can't dare say we are not 'Mighty Indians' of  'Mammoth India'..!!

We have our majority in rural India ( how they live is a different story) ; We export ( no, we enshrine ) about 25% of our brilliant students from IITs and IIMs  every year to United States and/or Europe; Our NRIs and Immigrant work-force are the highest individual contributors to our forex; Our genius like Dr. Hargovind Singh Khurana, Novel Laureate Dr. Amritya Sen and many of their likes prefer not to return home inspite of 'State Requests'.  Fighting scams and corruptions has become our perpetual strength; We have shown exemplary courage, conviction and continuity since the negotiation of 'Partition' through 'Krishna Menon's Jeep, Bofors to CWG, Raja, Raju or Hassan Ali/s..! Kargil, Bombay-Blast, Parliament Attack, 26/11, Foreign Ships straying ashore unnoticed and all these incidents never go un-inquired. We are now strong enough to conduct and continue with investigations and court of inquiries - never mind, whosoever is involved..!

When we are so busy with loads of such 'big-jobs' on hand; small and petty things like - problems in getting a Ration-Card, Ration not reaching to the BPL, standing patiently in a railway reservation counter,when 'dalals' are exchanging bundles of 'Forms' with the 'babu' behind the counter, teachers not bothering to attend regularly in MCD, Govt.-Primary and Village schools; health-care, social-security, education or ration are simply not there in fur-flung tribal and nondescript areas like Paren/Khipri(Nagaland), Baster, Kakdeep/Sunderbans and so-many other areas , and such other meniscus issues have to be ignored from time to time..!!

Just the other day, Chaitrali Tilak - great great grand-daughter of Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak - lamented, among other things, - " He ( Tilak ) participated in freedom struggle at a very early age. The Gandhis and Nehrus came much later, yet he is not remembered as he should have been..." .

Abhitej Singh Sandhu - grand nephew of  Bhagat Singh laments that the legacy of the freedom fighter has been allowed to wither away. He says - " Bhagat Singh's fight was against the unfair system and disparity that existed in society. He wanted equal distribution of the fruits of labour. And the problem still prevails. This is not the India Bhagat Singh wanted. Though we got freedom, it was only for a few influential families. The common man still struggling to earn his daily bread. We are living in a country where we have man earning Rs.30 lakh per hour and at the same time, 30 lakh people are without any shelter."

This writer himself is from a family clan where parents, grand parents and their siblings dedicated themselves for the cause of Indian Independence, at times under inhuman conditions; languished in British Jail and a few of them even sacrificed their  lives. Though offered, but no, not a single soul accepted the so-called " Tamrapatra " and the 'Pension' therewith..!! .. The Reason ? Well, better not speak..!!  The podium of those patriots was not the parliament of politicians..!! Sanctity of their souls and purity of their purpose made them immortal.

At 64, again "She" is giving a clarion call for protecting her sovereignty from the clutches of the corrupts. Oh ! what an irony of fate, the land of Rama, Krishna and kishans - the 'Bharatvarsa' is being humiliated at the 'youth' of India ! 'Bharat' crying and protesting , little realizing that in India if you have bouncing bundles and/or political influence, nobody can stop your 'progress to prosperity'..!! Aged 'Bharat' is not content to be convinced at that. 'Age-old' wisdom has gathered momentum and they are now adamant to take-on the 'youth' with their 'Panacea of all Evils' - they call - "Janlokpal Bill".

Fine, go ahead ; Even if you are to take permission from the watchman of your own house to get inside the door of democracy. A word of caution - Be aware of the watchmen; For security reason, they might ask you to cry at late night ! Because the Landlord is all powerful now.! Be as that may; But please do not forget us - the BPL ! As every party becomes very generous to us during election time, please take them all into confidence so that we now get their generosity all throughout the year.  

Ps> the 'Learned-One' tells us that it does't matter much to us if the Prime Minister or the Judiciary is covered by your bill or not ; What matters most to us is the bread for the day and

shelter of the night.

the 'Learned-One' suggests that for very important further 

reading, please do refer the article written by  Prof.

Dipankar Gupta of JNU in the Times of India of 5th last.

                                                      Jai Hind.


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