Today is 15th August, India’s independence day. We are moving to 63rd year of independence. When I look back and see, I feel we have developed a lot in terms of science and technology, space technologies, satellite communication, medicine, defence capabilities and the way of life as a whole. But certainly we still have a way long to go ahead. I always feel proud to call myself an Indian. But at times when I see something very bad happening, I feel is it this independent nation that Mahatma Gandhi fought for. We definitely paid a huge price for independence but just being independent is not enough. Only independence will not help and rather we need to be codependent on each other.

Last night I was talking to my friend Mudit and was sad to hear a revealing. The very evening Mudit went to the railway station to see off his fiancee. While in his return when he crossed the main entrance of the station, he found an old lady lying down on the side of the road. He got curious and asked people around about her whereabouts as she did not look a homeless lady. Everyone there was ignorant of her and no one knew why she is lying there. Someone said that she was there since morning. After an examination Mudit found that she was dead.

He was startled at the finding and so decided to call the cops. He looked around and found 2-3 cops on the other side of the road. He tried to convince them what he saw and experienced. But those cops where from Railway Police and simply said that the area is out of their jurisdiction. And probably since it was an eve of Indian independence day, the city cops might be busy with the preparations and security checks. But does that mean we have become so cold blooded that we do not feel what is happening around.

This guy finally could do nothing except being shocked, astonished, sad and frustrated. Like other average everyday Indian, he left the spot…

There might be n number of cases like this throughout India. Why have we become so insensitive towards such situations? Why people fail to take responsibilities? It is only because we feel independent, not codependent. We are an ecosystem and we need to co-exists. Neither the cops nor the passers by even thought of looking at the old lady who kept lying down there at the road side. There could be many reason for why she was dead. The city is fighting H1N1 and we are counting each death. Today when I am writing this article the death toll is 23 due to H1N1 but no one is counting the deaths due to other reasons. There could be more than 100 people dying for no reason.

Mudit was very sad and felt so guilty. He said to me that he cannot sleep as the face of the old lady keeps coming to him. We together had nothing to do except to write this and let you all know about this. I told him to go and sleep like every timid, courageless, self-respectless, shameless, irresponsible Indian. And wake up tomorrow morning and salute the national flag and wish everyone a Happy Independence Day and again go to sleep. And every other morning keep saying to people around you – I AM PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN

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