Independence Day or Interdependence Day?

Happy Independence day to all my Indian patriots.. :) A day to cherish the freedom we fought for, and we got! But this day has always left me wondering -- what is freedom? What is India? Who are Indians? What is patriotism? And many more… most of them unanswered or, well, debatable…:) I'll share some of my thoughts here on this auspicious day.. :D

15th August 1947!! Learn it!! Memorize it!! INDEPENDENCE DAY!! Believe me, I still at times get confused between Independence Day and Republic Day (26th January)!! And don't give me a weird look! I promise you there are many who do, mostly as kids though, but still they do.. :P It's not like what's 2+2, and u blurt 4!.. "15th august!" and you say, "Happy Rep..amm.. Independence.. Day!".. Lol .. :D

Jokes apart, it's a very important day! :) Many gave up their lives in making India free.. From?? Well, it's taught British Rule.. So the Imperial Rule was over, and India was declared free!

Now, as children we are also taught in history all sorts of things the British rulers used to do. Now when you do that, it does has deleterious affects. To quote and example, there are still people who despise the English language and label us traitors.. They urge us to use Hindi (National Language) instead of that! There was a time I despised them too. Not as an extremist though. But, then, soon, I found a pattern!! I found some dots! And I wonder what connects these dots!!

The dots are as follows:

• Indian subcontinent was a part of Africa, which drifted and collided with Asia, forming Himalayas;

• Just south of the collision there was a civilization around the confluence of the Indus river system almost 5000 years ago (3300 BC- 1300 BC), known as the Indus Valley Civilization.
• Around 1500 BC Indo-Aryan migration to India from the Central Asia.
• Mughal invasion and subsequent Mughal Empire in India from 1526 to 1757

• East India Company Rule in India (1757 - 1857)

• British Raj (1858 - 1947)

• Happy Independence Day (1947)

It looked to me the fertile plains of India has been fought for over the centuries!! So whose is India? What connects these dots?

Dravidians, that is what the original people in India were known as, and now consists of what's known as South India. History says during Aryan invasion, the Dravidians were pushed to the south. So the North Indians mainly consisted of Aryans, while the "original Indians" became South Indians.. It's said Dravidians were pushed as far as Sri Lanka! And to present day, South Indians don't have much of a liking for North Indian.. Call it hate, but they don't speak Hindi, and might hate you if you spoke in Hindi to them! They prefer English to Hindi!! :o So much for the National Language!

Aryans divided and ruled.. I don’t even remember the number of dynasties! Lol! There was a Mauryan, a Gupta, etc., etc.. And the predominant religion at that time was Hinduism.. Thanks to Gautama Buddha, there started Buddhism, although I don't think he wanted idol worship!

Soon after Mughal invasion, Muslim became a predominant religion. And thanks to Aurangzeb, the great (being sarcastic in every sense of the word), he forced conversion of Hindus to Muslim!! No wonder Hindus hated Muslims!!

And then came British!! And they were hated as well..

Few more dots:

• South Indians (Dravidians) hate North Indians(Hindus), because they were pushed down;
• Hindus (North Indians) hate Muslims (Mughal), because of Aurangzeb the great perhaps;
• Hindus hate English (British), because of the heart warming British Rule;
• Muslims hate Hindus (if I hate you and do bad things to you, you'll hate me too).

So much for Love!!!

And I wondered what connected all the dots! And if you have been patiently reading through all this humbug, tell me, whose India is it? Why should I or you hate or have a grudge for any religion, language or country? I call to all Indians.. Tell me.. Who are you? Dravidian? Aryan? Hindu? Muslim? English?

If you don’t know, let's see.. According to me, Dravidians should have darker skin like South Indians or Sri Lankans.. Aryans had fairer skin, as they came down from Central Asia. Aryans (fair skin) push Dravidians (dark skin) south.. Muslim (fair skin) invade Aryan (now perhaps semi dark! Lol) and take control! British (fair skin) invade and push Indians (darker skin).. So to me, basically it's the fight for India's rich soil and wealth between dark skins and fair skins.. And the fair skins ruled until they became dark skinned, and if they failed to become dark skinned (like British), they were overthrown!! Lol!! Sounds funny!!?? But that's the bottom line!! Religion comes next! Of course, if I am fair skinned, and larger (because I came down from a temperate climate), and I am stronger than you, who is smaller and dark skinned (because from a Tropical or Equatorial climate), my religion is "obviously" better than yours! Laugh on that!

Independence Day is good, but are we actually free? We can never be free!! It's a delusion.. Everybody will be dependent on each other! I liked the idea of Interdependence Day spread by the Zeitgeist Members.. :)

I acknowledge the things the leaders have done for India to give India it's long deserved freedom from Imperial rule. But, India still has a long way to go before it's actually free.. And not just India! The whole world… One world, one country! Peace and Love! No boundaries. Just Harmony! :)