"Freedom" under construction

August 15th, 2005:
I attended 4 Independence Day flag hoisting ceremonies.
At Whisper Valley, at College, at my grand parents' apartments and at our Mahita Center.
I distributed chocolates and ensured everyone had the tricolour firmly on their tshirts. I frowned at anyone who didn't know the National song. I distributed notebooks to the toppers of each class.
I listened to lectures about the heroes of our past. I tolerated a speech goading us to "change the world".
I clapped for a BJP man who needed the claps more than the flag hoisting responsibility.
I prayed to a photo of Gandhi and one of Mother India and I yelled Bharat Mata ki Jai at the end of it all.

Jai Hind indeed.

Nothing has changed at Mahita. The very well-known organization stopped funding it, even though there was a desperate need for funds.
My grandparents are ardent cricket fans and they cheer the loudest for Sachin Tendulkar. That's India for them.
BJP shows no signs of maturity or "desh prem".
Gandhi is dead(bless his soul) and Mother India has not heard my desperate pleas.

Atleast it wasn't just another holiday for me. Atleast I distributed notebooks to 50 children, who otherwise would've probably been so disillusioned that they would drop out of school the next day.

Who am I fooling?

Who was I fooling?

This year will be different.

There won't be speeches. There won't be kaju barfis.

"At the stroke of the midnight hour, while the world sleeps", there will be 300 young women and men making history at Rasoolpura.
We will build a Boundary Wall around the Zilla Parishad High School. This will showcase, beyond everything, that collective will truly can "change the world". Each brick laid will prove that we will justify the immense responsibility that we have as the "future of the nation". We will not allow these phrases to become pointless jargon.

If we work together, transformation is inevitable.

And now, Jai Hind has a whole new meaning.