Letting the bird out of the cage,

I muttered ‘’freedom’’.

Like the bird flying high above enjoying the beauty of earth, Indians adore independence after august 15, 1947. It is liberty attained after a long battle.

Since birth, being a granddaughter of a freedom fighter, who witnessed many iconic moments of freedom struggle I am instigated with stories on freedom fighting, the sung and unsung heroes of the struggle and more from my mother as she heard from her father. With great interest, I read books collected during and after my grandfather.

Not surprising that from home to school to college to Kuwait, I loved the independence day celebrations. The flag flying high always brought in me a citizen’s pride. We had a khadi flag at home, that with the help of my mother, me and my siblings hoisted on a baton at home. I read out (not a good singer though), ‘’janda ooncha rahe hamara..’’ and in my head perhaps I had a VIP moment. It was also a gratification to those ‘satyagrahas’ and sacrifices that lead the country to a democratic form of government and as prime minister Narendra Modi says, we are all ‘’very important persons’’.

In school, we had a march past soon after the ceremonial flag hoisting in the playground with the band group playing ‘’ saare jahaan se achan to vande matharam to jana gana mana’’. A group of girls sang songs in Malayalam and English. The festivities always reminded me that behind the atmosphere blended with nationalism has the tireless hard work of thousands of Indians.

The best of the memories of the independence day festivity is while I was doing my tenth standard. It was the fiftieth anniversary. We decorated our classroom with coloured papers and flowers with the little money pooled within ourselves. We enjoyed the kheer served in plantain leaves.

A photo of Mahatma Gandhi was hanged. We felt the celebration was not complete without remembering him. Me, more based on my mother’s Gandhi-bhakti formula always considered him a holy man walked on earth. The Gandhian saga of my life has many other features- the khadi cloths, the spinning wheel, the newspapers published on august 15, 1947, the newspaper after his assassination preserved in a wooden case at grandmother’s house, the copper headed Gandhi face hanging in our old dining room, the Gandhi photo hung on top of the front door of the house, the autobiography, biographies and more. Even after watching umpteen number of times, I love the movie ‘Gandhi’.

Later in Journalism classes, he became a journalist. I learnt more about his journals. In my public relation classes, I scribbled on my note books that he was an excellent Public Relation Officer. But he was more than a journalist, an author, a natural PRO, a freedom fighter, a congress leader, a preacher of non-violence et cetera.

After learning so much about all the denominations about Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi I understand why he is called the father of our nation. I like to make the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi a part of schooling at the other parts of the world too. Warring in the name of terrorism, aristocracy and what not, the world should learn that” an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind”.

This non-violent philosophy has lead India to a government of the people, by the people and for the people without tampering the relation with Great Britain. This has also helped in the making of our constitution and India becoming a republic.

My memories are full of jovial hearing, reading and watching stories on nationalism, patriotism, our unique culture, mythology and more on country. I often get goose bumps on relishing the wars we fought and won (salute to the soldiers and sorry to their family.) and our brilliant international relations. I am sure I may not be only one, who is passionate about the unique tradition, culture, folklore, history et cetera of our country.

It is that love for Bharat that has been attracting a big crowd to the Indian Embassy on August 15 every year. I could join the fellow citizens only once here in Kuwait to celebrate the occasion, but it as usual brought out the mania, lying deep inside me. What pride to carry about being an Indian!

Reshmi Naveen Gopal is a freelance writer. She is a post graduate in Communication and Journalism. She has worked with main stream print media and online journals. She has been a faculty in communication and journalism at a couple of colleges.