Memoirs of Independence Day

It just struck me that I should be writing about this topic in the blog coz there are many things I want to share about this great day-Independence Day. I became a little nostalgic for a while thinking about the golden days of our school life. As children, this day was very big for us.

Flashback (10 years ago on this day)-

At six in the morning, my mom begins her Suprabhata- “Get up girls, you need to go to the school early today to witness the flag hosting programme.” Throwing tantrums, I and my sis struggle to open our eyes and somehow manage to wake up. We lazily get ready in our white and white uniforms, glowing white shoes (we had a P.T. Sir and a Maths Sir doing investigation on the brightness of our shoes, failing which we were prone to punishment!!!! So a day before the Independence day and Sports day, it was our duty to apply white make up on to the canvas shoes…) and a flag pinned up on our uniforms to express the patriotism towards our Mother Nation. So we happily go to the school minus the heavy luggage (our school bags and classes suspended for the day) and stand in the scorching hot sun for the assembly. The day begins with the school prayer followed by the pledge taken with due respect (which is a daily business in the school, but I would like to quote the pledge coz somewhere in our busy lives, we would have forgotten it!!!!!)

“India is my country. All Indians are my brothers and sisters. I love my country and I am proud of its rich and varied heritage. I shall always strive to be worthy of it. I shall give respect to my parents, teachers, classmates and all elders and treat everyone with courtesy. To my country and my people, I pledge my devotion. In their well being and prosperity alone lies my happiness. Jai Hind!!!!”

Then our music teacher would begin his countdown-1 2 3 4-the choir of the school (who would rehearse for days together after the school hours) would begin singing- “Saare jahan se accha, Hindustan hamara….”and the whole school would sing in sync with a feeling of pride. This was followed by the flag hoisting ceremony performed by the Princi of the school. The whole school would salute the flag and pay a tribute to all those martyrs who at the cost of their lives put all their efforts to make India an independent country. The day would end with the National Anthem…”Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka Jaya Hai, Bharatha Bhagya Vidhata….” and the school would disperse. As part of the Independence Day celebrations, the students were treated with sweets and chips [which was “amrutha” (SK's punch word) to us coz we would be starving to death after standing in the hot sun!!!! :-)] We would come back home and watch the live telecast of Independence Day parade on Doordarshan. The same day, the Doordarshan channel would also air a patriotic movie which we would enjoy with all enthusiasm.

As part of Independence Day celebrations, the following Saturday was reserved for patriotic song competition during the Co-Curricular Activities (CCA) period. The school was divided into various houses- Ashoka, Sarojini, Shivaji and Tagore. There were a handful of people selected for the competition by the House leaders who would sing their throats out after series of rehearsal sessions!!!!!! As there was a system where in points were allotted to the winning teams and the runners up, the respective House leaders would try to inculcate the spirit of competition among their House members so as to win the competition!!!!! So on the D-day, the students would sing with devotion and patriotism in the presence of the Judges and the best team was declared as the winner.

The present scenario-

Friends, where are those beautiful days gone? Do we ever make any effort to celebrate this golden day marked in the Indian history. I am just lost in the mesmerizing thoughts of school days. Ah!!!! Those days Republic Day and Independence Day celebrations meant a lot to us. Now we don’t even make an effort to witness any flag hoisting session occurring in the vicinity or our workplaces. The present youth would rather dedicate this day for an outing/a get together (remember our get together party on 15.8.2008-the year we all graduated :-) !!!!!) or prefer to watch a nonsense movie with friends. The labour class would be happily boozing in the nearest bars till they lost all their senses- this is what freedom means to them!!!!… I can go on and on with many instances…On this day, I would like to dedicate a few moments for Mother India through this blog… Let's take an oath to protect our Nation and be responsible citizens.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY TO ALL!!!!!

(Ammu, I just flagged off the writing session. Hope I keep up your dreams of contributing to this blog in the coming days…:-) I will make a serious effort and will jot down whenever possible…)