Well there have been quite a few entries related to Freedom and independence in the past few days. When I posted the image of the national flag on Picturejockey on the 15th of August, I mentioned that there is a lot I would like to say but just don't feel like it and I guess all that is coming out here.

On 15th of August we gained freedom from the British rule. India was now a democratic republic and no longer a part of British Empire. Well actually we became a republic on 26th of January in 1950. I was wondering about the 59 years of independence. We have read in school and have watched on TV and cinema the struggle for the Indian Independence starting from Mangal Pandey as a rebellion in 1857 to the Quit India movement of Gandhi.

Our country is largely made of people who were born in a free nation but there is till a very large population that was born before we became free. Those people had some thoughts, some impressions about how the free India would be like and is the country we living in the same as they thought. On second thoughts I am thinking if we are really free-Freedom at a physical level and freedom at a mental level.

We live in a country that is suffering from the plagues of corruption.
We live in a country that has made a big contribution to the IT industry but still whose per capita income is less than $600/annum (that of China is almost double)
We live in country where we feel more scared of cops than goons
We live in a country where a big part of the population is not getting the daily requirement of nutrients and calories
We live in a country where the administration is so bad that it is almost non-existent.
We live in a country where planning is so screwed up that even after speeding crores of rupees on irrigation projects in Maharashtra we are not able to provide enough water to farmers who are committing suicide by dozens

I guess to truly celebrate our freedom we need to liberate ourselves from these things. A free nation is not all we need, we need freedom from corruption, freedom from fear, freedom from want and hunger and poverty to truly celebrate our freedom.

Freedom from pesticides

No to pesticide laced colas, yes to Milk

On a lighter note, here is a picture of Manu declaring his freedom from pesticides by choosing Milk over pesticides laced colas.

While we are talking about Manu and freedom, I would like to talk about the man Manu liberated from gloom.

This man was liberated from glom by Manu. Now he smiles when he sees Manu and chats with him.

This is Mr. Patel who runs a provision store in our society building. I am living here for the last three years and I never saw this man smile. He never got into any friendly conversation with his customers. That was till Manu taught him to smile. Manu and I are going to his shop for more than an year now every morning to buy milk and for the past 7-8 months Manu has been playing with his onions and potatoes in the evening. He never used to call Manu earlier but Manu never gave up and kept talking to him. Now Mr. Patel has learned to smile when he sees Manu and he also occasionally talks about the weather with me.