D-Day!

It’s finally here…15th August 2010…Independence Day, accompanied by the usual hoopla on TV channels, with every two-bit celebrity offering ‘deep’ insights into what Freedom means to them, what it means to be an ‘asli’ (true) Indian (what does it mean?), what they wish for their dearly beloved India (I don’t mean to be sarcastic, but the shallowness is just so obvious), and proceed to recite the all-too-familiar litany of cleanliness, godliness and the like, wishes that cease to matter as soon as the cameras are switched off; with ‘patriotic’ movies on every movie channel (there are too many to count); and every news channel worth it’s salt trying to get the most sensational happenings at every Independence Day parade held in the country. And Indians do not disappoint! This year, a disgruntled cop from Kashmir (an advocate for ‘Azad Kashmir’ apparently), threw a shoe at Chief Minister Omar Abdullah as he stood saluting the Tricolor! The CM’s rather cool reaction seemed to be, ‘Better shoes than stones!’ I kept watching this bit of news, as though hypnotized, mesmerized by the way one channel had actually tracked the arc of the shoe (represented on screen by a large red circle encircling a fuzzy object), as it sailed towards its target! So, in 63 years, if nothing else, we now have the Freedom to throw shoes at our own leaders, instead of foreign rulers! And many of them deserve it too!

Oh well, be that as it may, I just thought I would post Nehru’s speech on the occasion of Independence Day 1947, to remind me, that there was a time when India had visionary leaders. For me this is right up there with JFK’s, “Ask not what your country can do for you…” and Martin Luther King’s, “I have a dream…” speeches. Whether or not I agree with Nehru’s politics, I recognize & respect a great orator when I see one! Love the strength in and tone of his voice. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wUcw8Ufx_Y&feature=related

I guess, you can see I’m not too impressed with this whole D-day circus! But I love my Freedom! Will leave you with my new Freedom Mantra: Born Free, Living Free, Forever Free!

Until next year 😉

Jai Hind!

Liberty: A Poem by Amey

As you can see, am still stuck in Freedom 😉 But it seems only fitting this week, and after tomorrow, I promise, I’ll be done! This post is about freedom too, but of a different kind, the ‘permanent’ kind, ‘Freedom of the Spirit’…

Its been 19 months since we lost my brother to DMD and have been dealing as best we can, with the empty spaces he left behind. I have now reached a place (I like to think, with his help, ‘coz how else?), where I can remember him without falling apart. Instead, though the inevitable pain of his absence remains (as it always will), I choose to remember him with joy. Joy, that he brought so much of, into our lives. I know that although he spent most of his life, physically confined, he was always a free spirit! I salute that spirit, sometimes envy it and always, always aspire to it 🙂

He was a completely audiovisual media person – my polite way of saying he watched TV 24/7!! That’s where he got his vast stores of knowledge from! Sometimes it seemed like he knew everything about everything…in that annoying way that brothers have 😉 We shared a love of wildlife and nature and music and movies, although our tastes in the latter tended to differ! He wasn’t crazy about books though, the way I am. Literature was never quite his thing, although he read his monthly copy of National Geographic from cover to cover! So I was pleasantly surprised, when he presented me with this poem he had written, after I shared my first one with him (He was my biggest fan! Completely biased in my favor!). As far as I know, it’s the only poem he ever wrote and while it’s not Wordsworth or Browning or the rest…it’s very very special to me, because it’s so like him – direct, to the point and profoundly simple 🙂

This is my tribute to my brother’s ‘Free Spirit’, on the eve of my Country’s Independence day. Here is to you, Bro! May you stay forever as you were here on Earth – Happy, Independent & Forever Free!