"HAPPY", "INDEPENDENCE", "DAY"

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY

It's India's 67th Independence Day today, and millions around the world will be greeting each other with the phrase above. Although they'll all be aware of the context this applies to, how many of them would have given a thought to each word, and its individual significance in forming the phrase to what it conveys?

HAPPY. Happiness is as much an emotive description, as it is a level of satisfaction. Going by this definition, how many residents of India are actually content with their day-to-day lives? At each step in the day's routine, people face challenges. Whether its countering crowds to get onto the local train, or ensuring that your hand bag is safely tucked under your arms to prevent being pick-pocketed, satisfaction in most cases hasn't yet reached levels that can be called "happy".

INDEPENDENCE. True independence is obtained from the clutches of all aspects intangible. While corruption is at its peak, the presence of age old caste issues and dowry problems have an adverse effect on people even today. And I haven't even mentioned what's clearly become a national issue over the past few years, women safety. During my recent travels in India, I sensed a genuine fear in everyone's minds for the safety of their female loved ones. Everyone takes that extra effort to ensure their mothers, sisters, and daughters are kept out of harm's way at all times. Wherefore rests our "independence" from fear thus?

DAY. Metaphorically speaking, the above reflects more the gloom of night, than the bright of day. Not only is corruption a rampant macro issue, its becoming even more prevalent on the ground level. And the law and order of the country ranges across states from bad to sheer pathetic. A person tends to be most vulnerable when asleep, which is why he works all his life towards having his own roof over his head, one which he can trust to protect him as mush as possible during that vulnerable state. When even that fails to provide protection and security, it highlights the graveness of the law and order situation. So is this what we call "Day"? Is there daylight of hope peeping across the horizon? Not just yet.

Don't get me wrong here, I am a patriot who is extremely proud of our achievements in the past, and hail all those who have dedicated themselves completely to the nation's progress. Perhaps it's the patriot in me which reminds me that that was in the past. Time has come for us youngsters to be inspired by the yesteryear heroes and set our own standards on where we want to see our beloved land progress to. If we blame the system, then time has come to be a part of it and change it from within, such that we mean each word on the 15th of August every year when we say, "Happy Independence Day!"