Today India turns sixty-one. For an individual this signifies ripe old age, but for a nation this signifies youth. Yes, we are still young and budding.
Looking back on the last sixty-one years of democracy, we have lots of golden memories to cherish. I will not recount them all, nor will I recount some of the mistakes that were made. It is human to err, but the important thing is to learn from our mistakes.
It is time now to stop enjoying our freedom and start working for a better tomorrow. Today we have an environment conducive to growth. The world is looking up to Asia to perform. We need to grab the opportunity and ascend (as our neighbor China). Sadly our competition is not with anyone else but ourselves. Yeah, we need to evolve and adapt to the change. Only then we would be able to accept it and use it in our favor. This is easy to write but difficult to execute. But it’s not impossible. All great journeys start with a single step forward. Step by step, we have to tread this arduous path.
Every individual needs to shoulder this responsibility. One of the wrong judgments made by an individual is to leave the entire administration in the hands of the politicians. This is wrong. Every one of us has some duty to perform. At an individual level we can contribute by exercising our voting rights, saying no to corruption, spreading education (if one can), trying to eradicate religious differences, etc. The list is long. But if every individual spends one hour per week for a good cause, we have over a thousand billion hours dedicated to this cause every week.
Most of us ponder, “What difference can one person make?” This is a right question to be asked. But believe me, everyone can make a difference. To bring about a change is not easy. Also, the changes will be seen only after many years. Most of us would not be alive by then. But the next generations would definitely bear the fruit. That is what our forefathers did for us. They fought for the freedom, which we enjoy today.
Let us step out from our narrow worlds of “me and my family”. Lets start treating India as our family. Only then one can proudly celebrate a “Happy Independence Day”.
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