Tuesday, August 15, 2006

What are we free from? Who are we? We meaning , the nation? What is a nation? People living within the space confined by political boundaries. Should I feel proud and patriotic about this fair skinned small eyed , mongoloid featured north eastern Indian soldier more than I should feel proud of a scientist in Sri Lanka who looks more like me?
I've never questioned what a nation is while wearing white kurtas with pretty chunnis , singing the national anthem when someone hoisted the flag.
Ok so we are celebrating our freedom from the British over 59 years ago.

But what a strong word freedom is?

Today I was happy I could get to Vasanthnagar really fast with less traffic for a holiday. That's what it means to me today.
Fine.We are free from the british. But are we really free? Isn't it bizzare. Colleges closed yesterday in Delhi because of a security threat on Independence day and before? Isn't that terribly ironic? What do you think we are free from?
But apart from the questions ...Happy Independence Day everyone. We're free in some way.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

As you said, from whatever we are free, we are free.

Happy Independence Day.

the vestige said...

you are free cause you can express yourself like this... you are not free cause you don't want to let people know its actually you... you are free in many ways... bound in many other...freedom to me is relative... decide your refernce point and make yourself free from it... but if you are a beliver in the theory that fixing a variable itself can alter the path... then this discussion will go to another level..

Still Searching said...

I am not so sure we are really free... we have seen the Govt take away on its own whim the right to freedom of speech.. we read in the newspapers every day that its more and more difficult for women to get out of their houses in the nights coz of the danger of being molested on the streets without any help, so we are not really free to roam about as we wish.. the Govt randomly makes rules which punish us for being who we are and there is nothign we can do about it.. and we're also being enslaved by the Western world in economic terms, if not in actual occupancy! So how are we really FREE??

Y? said...

@truman: thank you.
@vestige: well ya i guess freedom is relative..you can't be free in everyway and also some will alwys be more free than the others can ever hope to be.
@ ruchika: yeah considerin the govt can block ALL blogs in just a little time etc we know that they have the power to suspend a lot of our freedoms irrespective of what lofty mr constitution says.being aware of that takes away our freedom doesnt it?

And bout what you said bout women..reminds me of a blank noise night out when a bunch of us women were out in the middle of the night...cops caught us asking us to go back home..saying 'walking time over'.

huh? walking time over in my neighbourhood , my street , my city, ahem my country?

But again , we have more freedom than women in Afghanistan...

Prasoon said...

dont even talk of freedom - am really pissed off when i think of this word.. life has been chained for me all this long and a job in s/w co. never adds more spice..

imagine freedom on banglorean roads n i bet you cant even imagine - watsay?

we cant speak, we cant write, we cant read... whats remaining - someday the orders would come which say that we can't even LIVE ...

Y? said...

@prasoon: It's only when I go to Delhi or Chennai or WHEREVER do i realise what freedom on roads means. bangalore roads are terrible!! narrow and choked with traffic but thats the only thing i dont liek about bangalore , i promise