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An Important Day but miles to go....

'Freedom', in its most abstract sense means the absence of external obstacles to the realization of desires.
- Bertrand Russell

I as an individual take pride on this day, as a citizen of this magnificent land. India celebrates its 60th Independence Day today. There are many questions that have remained unanswered even after so many years, if one person asks have we attained independence in true sense of the term.

Having said this, let me make one point clear that I am not disesteeming the jewels who have shed their precious blood for the freedom that we have today. I am of course deeply indebted to these freedom fighters who have made me independent from slavery and other evils. My grandfather was a freedom fighter, and he left his studies in the field of law, at a tender age and jumped into the freedom movement of our nation. I have seen black and white photographs of him, few when he was taken into the jails, few participating in the non-violence movement and many others. So even if I am not a part of that generation but still can feel the fire and the energy those people had put in. Well, it's for those people that we have SOME freedom.

These stalwarts did their share and passed on the nation to some responsible hands but then have we accomplished and achieved all that was charted out. Well, with whatever knowledge, I have if you ask me, the answer would be in binary mode: YES and NO. The journey has not been a cakewalk as we are a nation of a billion odd people, with a multitude of social identities and culture with our own share of challenges in the field of internal security, rural poverty, and moral values. Touch any domain of life, be it politics, business, education, social life, there is a wide spectrum of differences as we traverse, the different terrains of this glorious nation. In spite of the loopholes and potholes in our journey so far, we have achieved spectacular milestones in certain fields and arenas of life.

The journey has been arduous so far and as we transform from a developing nation to a developed nation, there are more miles to travel with guts and gumption.

Lets join hands and pay a tribute to our country with legendary artists - Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, S Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Jasraj, Hariharan, Bhupen Hazarika, Jagjit Singh, Kavita Krishnamurthy, S.P.Balasubramaniam, A.R.Rehman and many more crooning the National Anthem in celebration of India's 60th year of Independence. A R Rahman has brought together several maestros of the music industry to lend their voices to his latest album, Jana Gana Mana, his composition of India’s National Anthem. The album contains 35 different renditions of the original composition and features several stalwarts of Indian classical and popular music.

Here's a treat for your eyes as well as the ears.