“At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awaken to life and freedom. A moment comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance... We end today a period of ill fortune, and India rediscovers herself again.”

These were the words with which Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru addressed to the people of India and to the world, when finally, after much efforts India got independence at the midnight of 14th-15th August, 1947. Though seemed correct, Pt. Nehru made a horological mistake. The world was not sleeping when India was being made independent by the East India Company (British Empire). For example it was broad daylight in New York.

What I am trying to tell that it all started with a mistake. The mistake, which was made by our leader at that time. And today, 62 years after committing that mistake, we are at the quandary and trying to still believe… Are we really independent? Does this Independence really mean anything to the people of our country? Do the people feel that they are no longer bounded to the shackles of bondage? There is a series of unanswered questions which should be answered by someone. By someone, I refer to the people who take pride to state that they govern (rule?) this country and also the people who are governed by them.

Actually, the problem lies within us. I know it is hard to digest for some of you and some might think that I am sounding rebellious, to them let me tell you that Yes, I am sounding rebellious. I know it is really difficult to accept our own mistakes. It is, believe me. I also don’t easily accept them. But now, it’s high time that we should leave this old habit of ours and try to accept the hard fact that the whole problem of the system lies within us. In fact, we are the System.

Let me explain the whole point with an example. If something wrong happens, everybody blames the other person. If the garbage of our city has choked the sewer line, then the public blames the municipality for not taking proper actions, the municipality blames the state government for not releasing funds to clean up the mess, the state government blames the central government for not issuing special package for the state, the central government again blames the state government that it has not properly utilized the funds which were made available to them. And this crap goes on and on and on. Finally, the real problem i.e. the garbage was forgotten by all of them, and they start settling their personal scores with each other.

In the nutshell, if we really want to change the scenario, we should first change ourselves. We have to be independent from within ourselves. We have to realize that it’s our responsibility to accept the challenge to change the larger picture, by changing the smaller picture within ourselves. We have to prove the independence of our country through our independent lives. Before, thinking what is right for us, we must question that is it right for the country? Or else, forget about everything I just told, live life the way you were living it until now. But then please don’t complain for anything ever again.