Independence holds great importance for everyone across the world,

irrespective of caste, class, gender or race. Thus, in India

too  Independence Day is considered a momentous day in its history.
It was 15th of August, 1947 when India got its freedom from the long
slavery of around 200 years of the British Rule. It would ever remain
a holy day for every Indian because we have achieved our
Independence after a lot of struggle and sacrifices.

I feel we observe this day superficially. We forget the importance of

this day soon after the evening. We attach too much importance to
our individual freedom rather than to the national independence. We
want to grow without thinking at all about the growth of the country.
We must vow to safeguard the independence of our country.

Independence Day, today, to me means a world of opportunities,

options waiting to be explored and dreams to be actualized… Some
common dreams shared by our ancestors and some personal
individual dreams…the foundations for both were laid by centuries of
effort,which we celebrate today. One such common dream, which
can be summarized in Rabindranath Tagore’s words…“Where the
mind is without fear and the head is held high…”

Trying to define independence is like trying to define breathing. It is

always there. It is a state of being. Most importantly, its value is
understood only when it is taken away from us. It is waking up every
morning knowing that choices and decisions can be made only by you
and nobody else. Our country has always set a wonderful example of
being democratic. But if there’s something that I would like to be free
from, it has to be from the regionalism and the stereotype that exists
in every part of the country. Diversity has become our weakness
rather than our strength. I want to be free from being asked what
caste and community I belong to. I am a proud Indian and that should
be enough for any fellow Indian.If on this Independence Day there is
one thing I want to be free from-it is pretence. “Live and let live” are
words I have often heard but seldom seen practised. Most people
only pretend to practise what they preach. Stop talking about it, start
living it.

Freedom means different things to me.As a girl it meant being able to

follow my dreams. As a teenager, it meant being able to wear my kind
of clothes, listen to my kind of music, read my kind of books and my
kind of language . As an aduld it means being able to love by my own
standards without having a bother about societal hang-ups. As a
woman, it means being able to walk on the road at any time without
fear. As a citizen it means being able to exercise the rights given to
me by the constitution. And most important, as an individual, it
means living in a society where I don’t have to pretend. 

I am not questioning patriotic zeal here, for most of us here;

Independence Day is just another holiday. We are probably grateful
for the holiday, not the occasion. And as patriotic as we may claim to
be, that freedom is just some vague idea, some vague names and
dates and places, some vague struggles, some vague grainy black-
and-white pictures straight out of school history textbooks. Things
have changed radically since; things have improved by leaps and
bounds. 

Every year, we grow older, and with age, we do get more freedom.
Here, I lift a line straight out of Spiderman, modify it to my
convenience and say “With great freedom, comes great
responsibility”. The responsibility here means to consider “how my
decisions would affect others”. It is an honorable remembrance to
remind all generations to come, perhaps until the end of the world.
The relentless struggle of our forefathers with millions of peoples of
self-respect and dignity were dragged through public humiliation,
unjustifiable prison time, racial discrimination, brutality and killing
by the oppressors.Hence, it is important to remember that day every
day and celebrate it each year. I salute our troops and finally say,
with tears in my eyes, that Independence Day and Veterans Day are
important to remind ourselves that many people , out there on this
day lost his/her life for us.And for the kind of freedom I was born
with, that I enjoy today and take so much for granted, but for which
so much blood was shed, I salute my Motherland and all those
responsible for giving me this kind of freedom. As much as I realize I
can never feel the way they felt, I am grateful for this legacy they have
handed down.

“Freedom in the mind, faith in the words, pride in our hearts, and
memories in our souls, lets salute the Nation.”