So today I thought I’d take a cue from Suzy Q’s #FridayReflections’ post  last week and do a free write.

Free to write a free write

Today we celebrate our 70th Independence Day and I’m amazed at how these celebrations have changed over the years. I remember as a school girl not particularly enjoying this day because it meant a holiday that want really a holiday. We had to get up early as usual, go to school as usual and Winn the national anthem as our Chief Guest unfurled the flag . Then would follow some speech that was supposed to be inspiring but more often than not , just produced some barely concealed yawns. Then of course came the best part which was the announcement of the holiday for the rest of the day.

As the years went by we began to appreciate the significance of this event and actually reacted with more patriotism and fervour than before. By this time our schools had begun producing plays to commemorate our freedom and many of us got a chance t display our talents – singing, dancing or making speech making.

I remember one year our school celebrated this day as Hindi day ,something which came as quite a shock to some of our Anglo Indian and Parsi teachers. Miss Irani’s words still ring in my ears even today ” I can’t speak this language . What do I say “Mai batata who?” 

This was in the early days of our Independence when celebrations were pretty low key. In fact all celebrations were austere – birthdays at school meant that you could wear a coloured dress but your hair still had to be neatly tied. Earrings had to be small and discreet and bangles were simply unheard of. And all that we were supposed to give was two boiled sweets per child in class and two for every teacher who came to take different classes throughout the day.

Today, birthday celebrations at school can be a bit more elaborate with chocolate cake and wafers distributed quite generously in class. This same exuberance of celebration has extended to other areas of our lives as well . We celebrate days like friendship day, teachers ‘ day, children’s day and a hundred other days that are driven by mere commerce most of the time.

This morning while going down to buy some bread, I saw a whole parade of motorbikers revving down the street waving Indian flags. On the way back, I saw a cavalcade of expensive cars zooming down the street .

It was a different mood of celebrations. A celebration of freedom to live the way we want to live .

Happy Independence Day my fellow Indians .

               
That’s quite a bit I managed to write in just 15 minutes for #MondayMusings a weekly blog hop