Word of the Week #72:
Well, yes, this is indeed a day for celebration.
The roads are filled with men and women waving the tricolour, and the screen with speeches and colourful highlights of our relatively young nation.
Yes, this is, for the most part, a day for celebration.
After all, in most respects, we have arguably come farther in these 70 years than any other country, with the exception of China. Of course, anyone who knows anything about China would know the exact reason for that.
And if you don’t know, just ask Liu Xiaobo, the Chinese human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Oh wait, you can’t, can you?
Anyway, let us return to our own territory, and let us make merry, for this is a day for celebration.
However, as I’m sure a teacher of mine would have reminded us, it is also a day for introspection.
Yes, we have make far, but this is still not nearly far enough, is it?
To quote the very first speech made in Independent India, or was it the last one made prior to independence… Anyway, the quote is what matters, here.
“That future is not one of ease or resting but of incessant striving so that we may fulfil the pledges we have so often taken and the one we shall take today.”
— Jawaharlal Nehru, Tryst with Destiny
It is quite obvious that despite having achieved freedom from our colonial rulers, we haven’t yet succeeded in ridding our land of the plethora of problems that plague it.
Since I am not a JNU student, I probably wouldn’t just suddenly start chanting out the entire list. You live here, you know it as well as anyone else; if you don’t, you should probably be on the list…
Today, we stand at an undeniably interesting juncture in our planet’s history. A shift in the balance of power is already underway, and we have the opportunity to not just observe this historic moment, but mould it with our own will.
How exactly will that pan out? Time will tell, I suppose…
