March 23, 2014

LIFE WITHOUT THEM!



Freedom, a word which literally means “” the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint””, is a word that holds dear to all of us. As kids, when we learnt our lessons on independence, we were told that our country first kissed the soul of freedom on  15th August 1947. A day when the lives of our ancestors  changed forever, and was hoped it changed for good. I remember, as a kid, the only time I took part in any dancing activity, was when I danced on the tunes of “Ae vatan, ae vatan, humko teri kasam”. At that time, I didn’t know the meaning of any word of that song, but I cared about it. I cared about taking care of the song because my teachers told me it was like caring for my own country.  And, today, when I know the meaning of each and every word of that song, I feel that we, as India’s countrymen, have stopped caring about it. For us, it's just another song. 


Today is not just another day. And, yes, today is not only Sunday. Today is a special day in the history of our country. It’s a day when 3 individuals, Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Raj Guru and Sukhdev, laughed at their own demise 83 years before. It’s a day to be proud of. It’s a day to understand that the freedom which we have today is not because we are lucky enough to get it, it's because someone fought for it, someone died for it. Freedom, as simple as it sounds, is hard to achieve. And, someone provided it to us not because he/she didn't have a choice, it’s because they wanted us to live in a country we could call our home. 


Bhagat Singh is a Shaheed to most of us. But, when I asked a guy of  the same age as mine who lives right next door to me, he asked me if he lives nearby. This is Bhagat Singh for him. No wonder, he’s a revolutionary terrorist, and thus not a Shaheed, for our Central Government too.


But, today , I will tell you Bhagat Singh’s views on some issues which I believe everybody should know, quoting from the texts of the book, “INDIA’S STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE”. 


“Bhagat Singh, born in 1907 and a nephew of the famous revolutionary Ajit Singh, was a giant of an intellectual. A voracious reader, he was one of the most well read of the political leaders of the time”


“In the assembly bomb case, Bhagat Singh told the court:’ ‘’Revolution,” dosen’t necessary involve sanguinary strife, nor is there any place in it for individual vendetta(individual heroism). It’s not the cult of the bomb and pistol. By “Revolution”, we mean that the present order of things, which is based on manifest injustice, must change”. In his letter from jail, he wrote: “The peasants have to liberate themselves not only from the foreign yoke but also from that of landlords and capitalists”. He said that the struggle in India would continue so long as “a handful of exploiters go on exploiting the labour of common people for their own ends. It matters little whether these exploiters are purely British, or British and Indians in alliance, or purely Indians”.


Bhagat Singh also saw the importance of freeing the people from the mental bondage of religion and superstition. In his article, ‘Why I am an atheist’, he subjected religion and religious philosophy to a scathing critique. He wrote, “Any man who stands for progress has to criticise, disbelieve and challenge every item of the old faith”.



The 2 most important views of Bhagat Singh were written above. The latter of the above made me wonder that if someone hadn't challenged the old age systems like that of Sati, Jauhar, etc, we might still be having those in our society today, and we might still be saying, “Chalta hai. India me esa hi hota hai”. We would have accepted it as our tradition. This a small example of how our life would be without challenging the old systems which we feel are undermining the relationship of a human with another human.


We, as citizens of this country, should understand that the freedom in which we live today is not god-gifted to us. It has been given to us so that we could respect it and we could protect it for our future generations. It’s a liability that we should be proud to be made care takers of. 


In the end, I should just say that, “”Ghodi pe to sab chadh jate hai, desh ke lie jaan sirf kuch hi dete hai”. Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Raj Guru were the special ones!

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