What is invaluable?
If you could make a wish and change one thing in your day to day life, what would that be?
What would be of the most value to you without which you would not be able to survive? I am not thinking of water and air but I would definitely not survive without the freedom to be free in my own country.
Free meaning free to walk about in my streets and free to think, write and talk about my opinions.
What if these basic rights are not mine and every Second I have to be watchful about my every move?
Freedom has many levels.
I have seen cars in USA which clearly put up stickers of the leaders they support before election time.
Unfortunately I do not see such a level of freedom in India (whatever the reason…be it a lack of good leaders or mainly because life is dearer).
On the other hand I have seen staffs in American departmental stores become suspicious as soon as anyone from Middle East to Malaysia walk in.
Whereas in India, departmental store employees are suspicious of everyone in general, without any segregation.
What does it feel like to be under suspicion all the time?
There are Nations where men and women live under an overbearing contempt all the time.
Human civilization might have progressed enough for us to talk with someone on the moon but we still remain animals who love to terrorize and subjugate each other.
I am sad to see that segregation in the name of religion has made a part of the Indian population live with guilt and fear.
Politicizing religious separatism has become the norm.
Sadly we have all forgotten that the freedom fighters who laid their lives to give us a free India wanted us to inherit a secular and peaceful nation.
India has progressed so far because of her strong and varied population.
Jamshedji Tata the founder of Tata group was a Parsi, Azim Premji the chairman of Wipro is a Muslim and Dhirubhai Ambani the founder of Reliance group of industries was a Hindu.
But when we speak about them, we do not see their religions, we see them as Indians and that is the essence of being Indian.
If one looks at the neighboring countries of Pakistan and Bangladesh who are mostly unitary, one will understand that India needs her different colors to become the perfect rainbow.
Segregation in Indian villages may come in the form of village elders who decide the boundaries of a particular person belonging to a certain caste.
Even now in the 21st century there are villages in free India where water bodies like ponds and wells are segregated depending on caste and religion.
In cities caste and creed do not matter as much but there are other forms of subjugation where a controlling superior in work place will make your life difficult.
Subjugation of the poor and unfortunate are how ever common in cities.
In this regard, no country is any different. One has to look into the history of the so called developed nations to learn how exploitation of humans has built their foundation. Even now, one will find areas in big cities in the west where there is a clear demarcation of neighborhoods based on poverty or affluence.
So what is the message that we would like to impart to the next generation?
Become educated in the true sense and not just amassing qualification (education and qualification are two different things), and learn to treat every individula as equal.
At the end, humans are only two kinds, the good and the bad.
Some go out of their way to show their goodness and others do not see anyone past themselves.
