Independent India? Sure?

Independence Day = Holiday.

That's what it's come down to for most of us!

My plan for the day was similar — to sleep, chill out and catch up with friends. But I didn't know what was in store for me.

While flicking channels, I came across a tele-film on the Mumbai 26/11 attacks titled 'Un Hazaaron Ke Naam'.

Curiosity and lack of anything else at hand, drove me to watch the film. I, for one, had read all the reports on the attacks in 2008. The CST shooting, barging in to the Nariman House, sieges in Taj and Oberoi, everything. Yet, when I saw the film, I had tears pouring down with every scene. I could recall the stories read in the papers, the way people had lost their lives, officers had been gunned down, the media had reported.

And then?

Then what?

Then we forgot about it. We moved on. Months later, 26/11/2008 is just a date.

Ajmal Kasab, one among those, who mercilessly gunned down people, to prove a point unbeknownst to all was arrested. The only terrorist to have been arrested.

And what did India do?

Provide him with security, food, shelter and a chance to defend himself! Defend against what? A crime that the entire nation had seen him commit?!

Is this the direction in which we’ll be moving? On one hand, citizens are put behind bars for circulating cartoons, for asking questions (read: asking Maoist-related questions to CM Mamata Banerjee tends to land you in jail!), for demanding an anti-corruption bill and on the other hand we are yet to mete out justice to a man who crashed across the Indian borders, killed hundreds of citizens, brought the entire nation to a standstill for nearly three days!

Can you imagine the pain their families must be going through? Going to sleep every night knowing that the person who killed their loved one will definitely live to see the sun rise for yet another day!

Spine-less, corruption – fed, hit by scams and heists, crime – infested, filled with political dramas — the mention of India and the Indian government brings these words to my mind!

Sure, I love my India.

But what do I love about it?

Its culture, its history, its diversity.

But that is the heritage which has been handed over to us.

What about today? Tomorrow?

65 years of Independence. Have we made our freedom fighters proud?

I wish finding the answers were easier.

P.S. : I’d strongly recommend you to watch the film ‘Un Hazaaron Ke Naam’. Not because I want you to shed tears. Because I’m sure most of you will feel what I felt after watching it!