"Celebrate Freedom" Contest - August 2009

Today, I was,as usual enjoying my daily morning walk at 5am in Dubai,doing 3 big rounds
,thru lanes and gallies. Walking-fast, safe,no furitive glance behind, apprehending stealthy footsteps,fearful of hands coming out of the darkness to snatch me,my ipod/mobile.....
Then it came to me in a flash:THIS IS FREEDOM!. Remember what Gandhiji said-"India can be considered free only when its womenfolk can walk alone at midnight unharmed.”

( I have done very early morning walk in Solapur,at 3am, but always with my husband;I had landed in Pune before dawn, with my girl-baby,by bus from Solapur,but you can bet I was greatly relieved to see my husband has come to receive me,before I had done a few minutes of jittery walk.Also during my college years my father had to escort me while
going early morning or late evening classes.)

This feeling of safety and freedom , is not due simply due to efficient policing but it springs from the underlying fact-this society holds women in high esteem and respects them.

So, you can say, an Indian lady attained freedom in Dubai; May be when I settle down in Pune in a few years time, I will be able to taste the same freedom there also in all respects!! JAI HIND!!!

"Freedom is where Responsibility begins" - A famous quote.
So, can I say, "Celebrate Freedom" as "Celebrate Responsibility" !!!!
Do all the citizens of india celebrate their responsibility ??? Do they feel happy or are they willing to be responsibile for their countries current situation ???
There are many times when I come across educated people crib about paying taxes, not getting enough facilities from govt for the tax they pay. They blame neighbours or local administrators for the garbage dumps, bad roads, heavy traffic and every day to day activity. There is only crib and blame game all around.
Our leaders, common men in the past struggled in the past to get us our sweet freedom, but what have we as "free responsible" citizens done to get our country going to places ?? This might sound like the cliche used in all patriotic movies , but thats the truth. We still litter waste on OUR roads, but not when we are in some XYZ country. We dont follow traffic rules in OUR country, but dont mind following any silly rules of XYZ country. If you are a true Indian, behave the same way you do here iin other countries too and face the consequences.Why this indifference in attitude.!!!

Many people go abroad and are not willing to get back after 3-4 yrs of life there, reason, "Can't adjust to Indian environment" !! They are those who have spent 20-30 yrs in "Indian environment" and find foreign countries better in just 3-4 yrs. But remember nothing like being HOME, in ur MOTHERLAND. Home is where your heart is !!! No other country is going to accept you like you home land. Recent recession hit countries are the best example. People in INDIA are happier in home land compared to Indian in other country facing racial abuses. People are ready to accept living a mechanical life somewhere in foregin country but cant tolerate few bad things of their home places which gives them utmost pleasure, and not willing to correct the bad things !!!
The true freedom is not running away from your responsibilities sitting in another country wishing INDIA would be better in the future.
To "Celebrate freedom" lets "Celebrate responsibilties" as true citizens.


NOTE: Not meant to hurt or point any ILs away from INDIA.
Its just a post to put across my thoughts, take it in a light note

Hi Vijaya

veri true why do we need an escort for anywhere we go.

lets all pray and work towards making our community a place where a girl child is not abused and females can go about freely. A long way to go.

Hum honge kamyaab ek din .

Jyoti

Whats freedom ? Who gave me that freedom to realize that am independent, responsible and self confident person ? As I was trying to pin my thought to write this essay, I could just think of one incident which really made me realize that. It goes like this ..................

"Freedom never comes alone ...it always comes with responsiblity."
These were the first words I heard from my amma and appa, when they gave me the keys for my brand new Bajaj Sunny . Back then in 90s, If am right, that was the only 2 wheeler even a 16yr old could ride.
I was pretty excited about getting a brand new maroon Sunny. So now, my BSA SLR cycle took a back seat. wherever I went I wanted to take only "my sunny". My cycle was now confined just for school . I always longed to take that to boast before my friends . I was the only one that time who had a motorised 2 wheeler. That thought made me even prouder. Hahahaha.. I was "the typical teenager".

I loved the independence. Though my cycle did give me freedom, I felt that owning a Sunny gave me more freedom and pride. I could zoom to any place in minutes. It was less tiring. It never made me sweat so much. But the responsibility was also equally more. I had more maintenence to do,fuel it now & then, check air and above all drive carefully .

My parents used to give a lot of errands to do then, from post office to bank to drop my brother at bus stop, sometimes take my patti(grandma) for her shopping, to drop my mom at station and lots more..........Most of the sundry work was done by me. It was usually given during holidays or through weekends. My Appa usually commented that the main reason he got a second vehicle was that someone could share his work too. My mom didn't know to ride then, so he got ME a 2 wheeler. I was proud about him to have such confidence in me, so that motivated me to do more work responsibly. Morever, I enjoyed all these because it was a new bike and I was thrilled to ride. So always found an excuse to take it out !!

Now when I sat down to write about freedom , I think thats the freedom I got then.Freedom of mobility which in turn made me a self-confident, responsible and a mature person. I owe my parents my gratitude for making me realize that freedom come with certain responsiblity but also makes one more mature and self-confident. Cherish your freedom, never ever misuse it as its very easy to loose them. Grow with freedom !!!

thanx jothimehandi

Hi k2s,
thanks for the compliments. It is not late even now to ride a 2 wheeler. You canlearn and ride, why don't you taste the feeling?

Originally Posted by Jyothisri

Hi moderators!

I just saw the Topic of the month Contest and I'd really like to participate. Since this is the first time I'm going to be a part of any contest on IL, I have a few questions about the rules. I searched and also went through the previous contest threads, but did not find satisfactory answers.

My questions are:

1. Is there a limit to the length of the article to be submitted (Upper and lower limit)?

2. Who is on the panel of judges?

3. What exactly will the the article be judged for? Will the judges give more importance to content (individuality of ideas or experiences) or presentation (including grammar and punctuation)?

4. Why was the PM method discontinued for submitting articles? I think it was a good idea.

I hope this is the right place for my questions and that they will be answered soon so I can begin writing my article for the contest!

Thanks
Jyothi

Hello Jyothi,
Here are the answers to your questions:

1.No there is no upper/ lower limit to the length of the article.

2.The panel of Judges will be decided later by Induslady.

3.The content takes more importance than presentation as far as this contest is concerned. Every contest is different with a different parameter taken into consideration when judging the winning entry. As far as this contest is concerned the article submitted should be your real life incident, narrated in an interesting style truly capturing the spirit of freedom.

4.The PM method was discontinued as the PM access is not available to the New ILites. We wanted the New Ilites too to participate in these contests. Also this method of posting in the forum is transparent and encourages other ILites too to participate on reading the earlier submitted entries.

Hope this clarifies.

All the Best!

Hello Laxmi!

Thanks a lot for you reply. I'll now get going with the article and post it here soon.

Jyothi

Here's my entry. I hope I make the deadline because I'm not sure of it's time zone!

Freedom – defined by the Oxford dictionary as the right to act, speak, or think freely. It is the most important feeling to me and it is my parents that I have to thank for introducing me to this power that I never knew I had.

I was 15 – just out of 10th grade. We lived in Muscat, Oman. One fine morning, I woke up and decided that I would go to India to study the 11th and 12th grades. When I announced this to my parents, they calmly asked me how and why I reached that decision. In my 15-year-old mind, the only reason I wanted to complete my schooling in India was that all my friends were doing so. Of course, I didn’t tell my parents that! Instead, I acted mature and told them that since I had to go to India anyway after 12th grade to pursue graduation, I could go now so I could get adapted to the way of life there.

At that time in Oman, all Indian children went to other countries after 12th grade for higher studies. There were no colleges for expatriates. Most children went to India, some went to the US and the UK. It was 8 years since I had left my home country. I had no idea of how things worked there. I understood my mother tongue and could speak it fairly well.

Over the next one month, my dad tried his best to convince me that life in India would be difficult for me. He explained that he could not leave his job in Oman, nor could my mother accompany me because my brother was still young and going to school in Oman. He told me that I might have to stay in a hostel and he described how bad hostel life can be. When he did not succeed in scaring me with the big details, he tried to make me realize the little discomforts.

“There are a lot of mosquitoes there, you will get bitten.”

“Hostel food is really bad, you won’t be able to eat it.”

Slowly, he realized that I’m not going to yield, and my parents accepted my decision. A 2-month trip was planned. I am sure that my parents hoped that I would take back my decision sometime during the trip. I got admission in one of the ‘best’ residential schools of a town in my state that is famous for education and for churning out toppers by the dozen. Before my dad left, he asked me “Are you sure this is what you want? You can still come back with me now.” I waved him goodbye and walked into my hostel.

For the next two years, I battled with the ups and downs of life. I did get bitten by mosquitoes and suffered from malaria for an year. I struggled with the strenuous schedule of study hours and day classes. I made friends with my peers whose slang language I did not understand. I learned to keep my belongings safe from petty thieves and to keep a distance from persons with a bad influence. I pretended not to be shocked whenever I was asked “What is your caste?” or whenever someone grabbed my wrist to know the time from my watch. My heart ached when I saw day-scholars going home after school every day. I went to a relative’s house for the home-sick holidays but I still felt home-sick. Thankfully, the food was good.

At the end of those two years, I completed not only school education, but also gained the experience of a lifetime; the experience that would help me deal with people and situations with confidence all through my life. I had been naïve and fresh when I joined that hostel, when I left it I was mature and independent.

I know my parents missed me terribly during that period, but they let me go - to learn my life’s lessons on my own. They let me choose and be responsible for myself, and I can never thank them enough. Today, I am what I am because of them, because they gave me my Freedom.

30 states
1618 Languages
6400 Castes
6 Religion
29 Major Festivals
And 1Country!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Be proud to be an Indian