Vande Mataram!!!

In childhood I used to look forward to this day for the apples and biscuits distributed in my school besides performing various patriotic song and dance items. As I grew up, we had flag hoisting in the nearby areas with some elderly person/s reminiscing their experiences during the freedom struggle. Now I am a mother and I take my kids around for various celebrations in the building and the surroundings. Today someone asked why do you gather this day, and I looked at my daughter for an answer and she promptly said ‘because we want to pay respect to our country’s martyrs as they freed us from the British Rule.’

Then suddenly I thought, 64yrs now (36yrs from my birth) and I am still enjoying the freedom from the British Raaj. but am I really free? Am I free from the roving eyes of the lecherous men, am I free of the thought of the safety of my little ones because their gender (look froward to voicing my opinion in the Mumbai slut walk), am I free from the thought that some corrupt neta is pocketing my hard earned money in one of his foreign accounts (plan to fast for at least a day with Anna Hazare to show my solidarity), am I free of the fear of another bomb planted somewhere in the vicinity of my near and dear ones (am soon enrolling myself for combat training), am I free of the thought that this S&P’s downgrading U.S. debt from AAA to AA+ would not affect India so much (will try to hold on the larger expenses planned and probably shift my plans of buying a home to next 10 yrs), am I free of the thought of some natural calamity hitting India besides the political and communal ones (god forbids!!!). It’s my needs in my life that defines my freedom. The more I need of the day to day life, the more I expect from my husband, my kids, my near and dear ones, my company, my community, the leaders, the countries and end up blaming all people around for my failure.

For my kids, do they even look at these things? Freedom for my little ones is to be able to play some hours more like the older kids in the building, my not telling them to follow their timetable after coming home from the school, to be able to remove anything from anywhere from the house and leave them where ever, to shout and jump on the bed and sofas in the house, to watch TV and play games for as long as they want, to order Domino’s Pizzas and Pastas everyday. For them freedom is freedom from their MOM. I am equivalent to the British Raaj who rations and regulates the whats, the wheres, the whens, the whos the whys, the whichs, the hows of their life. Till they are not exposed to the harsh realities of life I am happy being their mother (of all problems).

Vande Mataram!!! Vande Mataram !!!

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• Celebrations On India’s 64th Independence Anniversary Will be Subdued ( http://thelinkpaper.ca)
• And they’ll sing, “Vande Mataram” (sushantkumar.wordpress.com)