Are We Independent? I Think ‘No.’ What Do You Think?

Another 15th August, another Independence Day. The nation is all decked up in the try color to celebrate the most remarkable day in the history of India. TV channels are too busy scheduling the top 10 patriotic films (like Border, The Legend of Bhagat Singh, Rang De Basanti etc), FM stations cannot think of anything else but playing “Bharat Humko Jaan Se Pyara Hai”, “Bande Mataram” (Rehman’s version), “Sandeshe Aatein Hain” etc throughout the day. You can see families sitting in front of the TV set, watching the spectacular march past by Indian army and paramilitary forces. But amidst all these festivities where is the Independence? Can you see it? Can you feel it? Can you touch it? Can you decipher it?

Independence means “Freedom from the control, influence, support, aid, or the like, of others.” On 15 August, 1945, India, as a country, acquired freedom from the control of British rulers. We all knew how the brave-hearts broke the shackle of dominance and snatched away the liberty from the firm clench of those Britons. So I’m not going to repeat that tale once again here. But the question is, after 66 years of independence, can I call myself independent? Can you call yourself so? Can I freely express my thoughts about anything and everything? Can you ask the government to show you how they utilize the taxes you pay or how you are being benefited from that? Can you stand up and spit out your anger against the social and political injustice? Above all, what about your collective individual independence?

pic source: Munna Kumar Photos(picasa)

When a country becomes independent that does not only mean that the country is free from any foreign oppression or injustice; that also signifies the fact that the common citizenry of that country is also free from any injustice, oppression, hardship etc.

India, the largest democratic sovereign country, ensures justice, liberty, equality and fraternity to her every citizen.

But –

• Can those little boys and girls working as labors free themselves and ask for equality?
• Can those millions of common people demand an answer from the government using their Right to Information?
• Can you or I stop paying the taxes until the government gives us a detailed account of those each and every paisa we have paid from our own pockets?
• Can an adult person of this country choose ‘No Vote’ during election? After all, if we are independent then we should have the power to choose no one as our candidate to the upper or lower house of the Parliament.
• When a court violates the laws it has set for itself, a victim is left with a no other choice than to accept it as his or her own misfortune.
• From presidential election to Rajya Sabha election, we are just puppets in the hands of the politicians or better say, our representatives. What a sarcasm it is!

And regarding India’s independence as a country - it still cannot decide its own nuclear deals, it cannot prohibit the intruders from crossing the LOC and it cannot make its own choice when it comes to purchasing arms & ammunitions from a foreign trader. And the list goes on…

Still we hoist the national flag; still the school children sing patriotic songs with folded hands; still all the TV reality shows bring their exclusive themed programs on air; and still we proudly call ourselves Independent. 

About the Author- 

Durba Sengupta is a Content Writer by profession. A student of Journalism and Mass Communication, she is a complete bookworm and a movie buff. Being an optimist, she dreams of a day when a few words like poverty and corruption will no longer be in use.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and they do not reflect in any way those of the Dispassionate Observer.

The Olympic Dream

Curtains have fallen on the Olympic Games in London, 2012. A spectacular Ending ceremony was the crowning glory of the greatest sporting event on Earth. Indian contingent fought, ended up getting six medals (two silver and four bronze medals) and showed promise of getting few more medals in the near future. The country went the Hero way, "Hero Go, India Go". Like many others I also eagerly followed the developments and posted in facebook when one of our athletes won a medal. Suddenly we were finding wrestling interesting and badminton enjoyable.

pic source: Sameer Ahmed Photos (Picasa)

However, this euphoria is short lived. India loves its cricketers. They are our national heroes and all corporate support is for them. A good show in national and international circuit ensures a number of advertisements across television channels ranging from fairness creams to motorbikes. Sushil Kumar, Vijay Kumar or a Yogeshwar Dutt, getting a lot of cash reward after their achievement in Olympics, will go into oblivion after sometime. We as a nation love to listent to pulsating music during the cricket matches in IPL and enjoy the game! We like to watch all the antics of film stars like Shahrukh Khan and cheer wildly for cricketers like Saurav Ganguly (whether performing or non performing), Sachin Tendulkar (no more what he used to be), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (all smiles and all luck) and a number of other stars. Media in the country love to report over days on the Harvajan-Sreesanth slap-gate.

As Nirmal Shekar opines in The Hindu, "Let’s look forward to another wild parade through the streets of Mumbai with the boys peacocking from an open-top bus. Let’s unabashedly hail their heroics, throw fresh flowers and encomiums at them even as my fellow professionals try to pull out every adjective in their vocabulary to celebrate the great achievement.

Meanwhile, Mary Kom would probably be running from pillar to post to find a cooking gas cylinder in Manipur, Yogeshwar Dutt would be walking to the nearest tea stall in his hometown, unmolested, his stellar achievement long forgotten.

The peerless Viswanathan Anand’s fifth world chess title would be a distant memory and he would be preparing for yet another tournament that nobody cares about even as Jeev Milka Singh tees off somewhere that nobody has heard of. Birdie and eagles…well, we haven’t been to a bird sanctuary in a while; should make it a point to visit one."¹

The sad reality of our country is that we concentrate too much on cricket as other sports get neglected. I was listening to one anchor in a regional news channel as she expressed her displeasure on the small number of medals for a country with such a big population. She was arguing that poor infrastructure on the part of the government is the main roadblock. Agreeing with the fact that politics have ruined the prospects of the country and infrastructure has been poor there is also one big concern. The Indian mindset has to change. How can we expect great results from our athletes when we just brush them aside as non entities? Only during Olympics we find a lot of national spirit and feel disappointed when Abhinav Bindra fails to qualify. While Virat Kohli finds a problem of plenty to choose from advertisements, Mary Kom knows she cannot expect the same.

It is easy to point fingers at politicians and lament at the present conditions or results. Politicians are part of the society and it is the reflection of the society itself on their deeds. What do we do to cheer our athletes all the year round? We choose to avoid national hockey matches when they are telecast on television for the excitement of cricket. If a badminton match of Saina Nehwal can generate TRP's to the level of a cricket match then gradually corporates will pour in money because they understand business. Now where from will the TRP come if we choose to ignore her matches most of the time?

The governmental fund outlay has improved over what it used to be in the past and the results are showing in the increasing medal tally. However, for a nation to compete with giants like U.S.A and China there needs to be strong public backing behind national athletes. Media can serve a better purpose if they give these athletes good coverage throughout the year. Media also have to look into infrastructural deficiencies and form public opinion for their fast overhaul. They need to report about new talents and raise voice for more and more corporate involvement. Cricket is a beautiful game and the power structure revolves round it, however, it is time that we stop getting disappointed finding ourselves in 55th spot in the final medal tally and look within ourselves to feel whether we are doing justice to other sports apart from cricket in the country. Playing hockey is not encouraged in schools; badminton, table tennis, chess, wrestling or other sports are always considered secondary to academics. Talents are lost when parents pursue a promising badminton player to leave the game for better prospects in engineering. Cricket, though, is in a different league because mothers flock with their would be Sachin's, Sourav's, Dravid's, Dhoni's to cricket coaching centres. They are adamant to see their children making a century at Lords and soon become the sought after advertising model. We cannot expect the good when we ourselves deliver the worst. It is commendable that in spite of being pushed aside these athletes spring up from nowhere and produce good results. They are aware that all their valiant deeds for the nation will be forgotten when Shahrukh Khan will dance to the tunes of a popular Hindi film number with his Knights, post an IPL match.

1. Nirmal Shekar's Column in The Hindu retrieved from: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/nirmal_shekar/article3758296.ece?textsize=small&test=2