By Swasti Sudan:
Dear Cynics,
I see you. I see those obnoxious messages you have on your Facebook feeds about how India isn’t really Independent, the posts that say August 1947 was just a transition of power.
I hear you too, in those pretentious conversations you have while sitting in a cafe talking about how ‘desh ki lagayi’, and how we are such a ‘backward society’, not to mention the punctuation of every pretentious conversation; ‘desh ka kuch nahi hoga’.
To you, I cannot help but say; Grow up, because all you sound like is an angsty teenager playing victim, feeling misunderstood and whining that nobody loves them.
It is on this day that you should be grateful that we are no longer ruled by our colonisers, its today when you should celebrate how far we have come as a nation, and it is today, my dear cynic, that you should look to the future and see what positive change you can bring. The more you sit, whine and complain and think your snarky comments make you intelligent, the more of a fool you are.
Develop an informed opinion, take a stand and (this is the hard part) make an effort, invest yourself and fight for change.
Take up a cause, whether its helping in the movement for education, taking a stand for the LGBT community or deciding that you no longer want to read about rape because its time things changed around here. Understand where we started and realise that even the simplest things that we take for granted such as the right to freedom of religion and the right to equality before the law as written in our constitution were rights that we fought hard for.
This is our home, and the right to complain brings with it the responsibility to make an effort for change. Don’t be the person who neglects their responsibilities.
We are not freedom fighters; because our cause is now to maintain the freedom we achieved. This country is part of our identity, and I have no qualms in screaming from rooftops that I am proud of being an Indian, I am proud of my home. My pride does not make me blind to the tasks at hand, it fuels me to make a change while history reminds me that one must fight for even the simplest of things.
So don’t be scared to fight, my friend, its overwhelming I know, and you may not know where to start but in time you can make a difference.
Just remember; this is our home, who will take care of it if not us?
– Jai Hind,
A Proud Indian