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Coming up on 60 years

Its almost 60 years since India won her independence from Great Britain. I have been a big fan of history of all sorts and my people's history is something that I am very interested in. When I was born, India was a country run by the Congress party and a Gandhi was in charge. Its quite funny that 26 years or so later, another Gandhi (an Italian one) is running the show in the background. In the meantime, the country has changed and improved by leaps and bounds.

But what about from 60 years ago? I have read a lot that many of the founding fathers of our country have written over time... I can only imagine the anticipation, the hope and the dreams of many Indians who are on the brink of that day. Remember what Nehru said? He said,

"Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which 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. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity."

What did he mean by that? Did he want India to become what it is today? What if these men and women who fought so valiantly for the nation's freedom were to come back to present day India (and indeed the world for that matter), would they be pleased with what they see? Will Nehru be happy with India's scientific progress? Would he be disappointed by the lack of social progress? Who knows what these people envisioned for our nation.

I hope that on our 60th year of freedom, we do not forget what the cost of that freedom was and what the results of it are. We as a nation paved the path for the end of Colonialism. There are today, few if any colonies that exist, and certainly none that are of the form that India was 100 years ago, or even 60 years ago for that matter. India is a strong nation, a democracy of its own sort, where the people do decide who comes in. India is a strong nation, whose armed forces are on the ready to defend her. India is also still very much a developing nation, where the environment, development and social equality and care are distant dreams.

We have achieved a lot in the past 60 years. We have much more to achive in the coming years. We need to become leaders on this planet. We need to pioneer environmental policies that insure India's leadership in the region and the world. We need to curb our population and make better use of what we have. We need to improve our cities and towns and villages. We should strive to achive a lot in the field of sciences and social sciences. We have a ways to go.

But every day, every Indian can look at their flag, look at their country or look towards home (for the many millions that have left home) and be happy and proud of who they are and what they have become.

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