India and its independence

Musings in Modern India

It was the year 1857 when the rumblings of a revolt against the British began. While the seeds of distrust against the British were growing since their arrival in India in 1612, given the fragmented state of affairs and fights between princely states there was no opposition that touched the British up to this point. 1857 marked the beginning of nearly a century-long struggle to gain India’s independence from the British. Several lives were lost in the hope of a free India. An India free from narratives of colonialism reveling in its own identity its multicultural heritage, its multilingual people, its rich biodiversity, and its ancient terrains.

On August 15th of every year, Indians mark this day. We hoist flags, wear them on our chests, sing patriotic songs, and partake in the patriotic festivities of the day. As a child when I saw the Indian flag hoisted against the bright blue sky and Jana Gana Mana playing in the background there was a feeling of pride. In the end, all of us would shout in unison, a re-sounding, and roaring Jai-Hind.

Years later, now that I know the cost of freedom and the struggles of the past I realize this was the dream of many Indians who were under British rule.

Now that many of us are living the dream of an independent free India, do we know the cost of our freedom? The things that we fought for.

We pander to British values of beauty, wealth, and finesse. Fair skin is beautiful, and speaking English without errors is sophisticated. Eating with your mouth closed is considered manners and sitting on a seat when you poop is a true symbol of civilisation.

I was born into an independent India, just after liberalization, which witnessed the opening of purse strings and a surge in spending by Indians. I was born into a world very different from that of my parents. There was no dream that was unachievable, it was the rise and rise of the middle class.

We wanted a house, we wanted a car, we wanted holidays, we wanted a US education and we could have it all. All we had to do as kids was slog and stay ahead in class. Academic achievement was the door that would transform our future.

I was doing my undergrad in Mechanical Engineering early 2010s. We were learning the workings of the old mechanical world. By the time I graduated, the world had changed faster than our academic textbooks.

In 2013 there was a rush of people wanting to migrate to the US. Not wanting to go to the US was considered bizarre. The question was not if I was going to the US, but when? Most of my school and college friends left India for green pastures in the US.

Like Mohan in Swades, there was something that made me want to stay back. I could not explain it, but I could not picture myself in the US. There seemed to be something in India if we kicked the Brits out and wanted to protect our land. I did not know what, so I had to stay back and explore.

A decade later when I look back, India has changed. We have grown into something none of us would have anticipated. I do not know if it is for the better or the worse. While a lot of Indians are out of poverty, we have fallen into the Western habit of wreaking nature to build our economy.

Our ancestors would have thought twice before uprooting trees and clearing forests. We revered forests and worshipped them. We were against the waste of any kind. The rain gods and the forest gods were worshipped, they could get angry if we were callous and so we tread a fine path of natural balance.

Today, we follow the old customs and rituals but we wrap them in plastic. There are bigger cars and houses, but India has also contributed its fair share to global warming. Celebrating the fact that it is lesser than the US is similar to saying axing 10 trees is better than axing 100.

As we move ahead in the world, it is time to look back at our past and identify the threads that truly make us Indian. One of the strongest threads is conservation, we are not a culture of excess and waste. We are a culture of conservation of seeing Gods in the forces of nature, who serve us reminders that nature is stronger and larger than all of us and we are part of her.

For those who have left the country to find greener pastures might I suggest a trip to India, to embrace the changed India of today where you can digitally pay your pan wala and walk around without cash. A progressive India in spite of the narrative that is spinning around in the world.

There is a lot of work to be done, but let us take a moment to celebrate how far we have come.

An India that has opened up like a flower, carrying old fragrances and new. It looks like the seed that was planted during independence, but not exactly the same. The wind and waters of the times have changed and so India too has changed. But at the core a thread runs of the old India.

A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance…

We stepped out from the old to new and found our utterance and now the world is listening.