And we Ask for ‘Free’dom..!!

Listening to those words now, had a very different impact. Then, they were mere words, now they were ‘anchors’, ploughing deep into my mind. The song was one of the best I had ever heard then. My mind recited..

Can you believe we still around?

After so many hit the ground

And we ain't gon' stop now

Until we get that

Freedom, freedom, freedom, freedom

Everything I have, everything I own

All my mistakes, man, you already know

I wanna be free, I wanna be free

It was after 2-3 years that this song was beating my eardrums again. Akon’s voice and the perfect words in it depicted the scenario very beautifully. It was in a way, trying to tell me, to empathize. Well, but I had already started feeling myself captivated. Last few weeks were such, when I could feel my freedom being crushed by people hailing power; I wanted it complete, as it was earlier.

My freedom of speech was recently kidnapped. But thank god! Indian judiciary brought it back safe. Freedom to migrate is always questioned in Maharashtra by some. We have got so much freedom, in India, that we tend to extravagant it. And then we ask for freedom we aren't worth  of.

My summer vacations of 2012 were fortunate enough to be spent in the United Arab Emirates; my first experience in a non-democratic country, and also the first one outside my own. I always considered democracy a very powerful form of governance (and yes! It actually is!). A typical mindset of mine was about the monarchical countries like the UAE. I entered the UAE to end the month of April and it was already drastic hot there. But this weather had no rank before what I saw there. What I saw there was a complete contrast (in terms of thoughts, people, everything rather)…

My dad had already informed me about the rules there, and yea! Quite expectedly, they were strict. My experience was best hit when I, one day, moved out on the streets walking to a friend’s place. Aha! There were ‘visible’ zebra crossings! (You know in India they are invisible) I walked on one of them, recalling the rule; first look left, then right and then again left. I moved; the road was clear. Just then a vehicle came and I stopped with a jerk! (Waiting for it to go) But to my surprise, it stopped at the crossing, waiting for me to cross first! I walked ahead, and the vehicle then sped away. I felt as if I was in heaven! Never had I got this kind of treatment (respect) on roads! (Again you know very well about India!). Shocked with pride (pride because I was ‘something’ as a pedestrian), I moved on. A next surprise was waiting for me. It was an intersection. Suddenly two cars sped towards each other and just missed an accident. Well the red one was wrong! Surprise comes now! The window of the black car opened a voice yelled. It was a woman! The other driver was sufficiently barked at, so much that he drove away. A woman! And she yelled at a man! In India it was rare and one who did it was called brave..!

These experiences (in a non-democratic country) moved me. UAE was the only country in the Middle-East, which was monarchical, but gave much freedom to the citizens. And more importantly, the citizens accepted it responsibly. I don’t know what actually it was, but it made me follow the rules there. In India I least bothered but that something was compelling me, to use the zebra crossing instead of a shortcut…

Back to India. Many people call the noisy, ever populated nature of India its special feature. I have watched several travel shows, and a thing common to them was what their hosts said..

‘India is a place of colours. You never know what you would come across a turn. It is full of surprises. And that’s what I love about this place.’

In a way, all of them try catiously to sweeten the bitter. Because, Indians love being praised as they are!

Come out on roads, you would find a group of bikers moving in a crazy manner, intending to impress a girl nearby, by their biking skills. Move ahead, you would find a driver spitting out a red stream of his car (mouth freshener it is called; the red stream). Move still ahead, but alas!! You won’t find any zebra crossing! Aha! I forgot! In India, they are painted with special invisible paint. And even if they are visible, we 'assume' they are not! That’s a true Indian! Now if you cannot drive, how about an evening walk!  People are welcomed in parks, all scented with rotting garbage! The view’s so beautiful you know! And the lakes! They don’t have any other work than to keep thermocol blocks and plastic bags floating.

Another talent was discovered in Indians, when monuments were opened for public viewing. We make them our masterpieces! The builders specially kept some walls blank, so that the names scratched on them remain immortal.

So much plastic dirt we create and just dump it into a corner which then turns into a garbage hill very soon

Indians! We drive vehicles even when we haven’t crossed 14, we litter all around like nomads (even worse) caring only about our clean homes, not of the city, monuments are our creative walls and doing all this, we ask for ‘free’dom!! Shameless is the word, best for all of us. Folks, if we do not have any respect for the rights we’ve got, we have no ‘right’ to have them. We boast of our rights, but forget our duties. We blame the system, don’t we? The thing of which I mentioned which compelled me to follow rules in UAE, was fear. I do not wish it to be the reason in India. Look within, there lies the real system. It is rightly said..

‘Soil is least thought about. We look around, we see soil. It’s almost free to us. And that’s where we attempt a suicide. We take it for granted, exploiting it completely, just because it’s free. But a day would come very soon, when world will die for a pinch of soil.’

We(Indians) have taken rights for granted as democracy delivers them right into our hands free of cost! Freedoms we have, we exploit them. In a previous article I had mentioned, ‘You have your freedom until you do not snatch other’s’. Our perspective is very casual, because we all know that a famous future predictor had said that India would rule the world one day. Aha! Not without the efforts of Indians! Friends, value the freedom you've got. I write this article because I am an Indian, UAE wouldn’t have seen such an article. Change your thinking as to why you are here. You are so lucky to be an Indian. Be proud to be an Indian, be responsible enough to ask for freedom.