Just another day...

There's no value for 'Independence Day' anymore. just another holiday. A day for movies, shopping and relaxing. This year, unfortunately for many, Independence day fell on a Sunday!

Gasp! The horror of missing out on a free day.

I mean, what else can we really do? In school we were literally forced to attend the flag hoisting function, usually held in the early hours. The only good thing about the function, however,  would be the distribution of sweets/candies at the end of the program. Apart from that there was nothing special about this day. In fact, it was annoying that channels would play 'The Gandhi' over and over again on T.V. Now, of course they play other commercial movies. Because, as I already mentioned this is just another holiday.

What are we to do on Independence day? Are we to sit in deep contemplation about how India won it's freedom and the people who struggled in the fight? Or reflect on our duties as a citizen of free India? Or recite prayers and sing patriotic songs? Or narrate stories to little kids?

No.

Our mind is not conditioned to do all this. Our mind is already burdened with so many, many, things that we don't have the time for all this. In the true sense, today, Independence means nothing but a break from work, school, college, kitchen...and so on...

Yes. We justify it. "We've worked so hard all this week, we definitely deserve this break." Absolutely.

Independence day, as we see it today, holds no value. We're just happy that we're free.

But that's a lie we tell ourselves everyday.

We're not free.

When we hear our anthem, we continue walking, eating, laughing, playing and doing everything except stand still for those few seconds... because, we're not free from the fear that people will mock/laugh/stare at us.

When we want to get our work done fast, we will go to any extent, even pay bribe.

Everybody is aware of freedom of speech/expression, but no one raises their voice against any wrong.

We're not really free. That explains why this day doesn't hold any value in our lives. Anymore.