India
proudly celebrates her 68th Independence Day today. We, as a nation, have every reason to celebrate this most auspicious day in the history of our beloved country. The ignominy of being subservient to another nation was erased at one stroke — the stroke of the midnight hour of our tryst with destiny (from Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru's speech) in 1947.But this independence from the foreign yoke did come at a heavy price — the partition of a living nation into two artificial factions. Who can forget the ghastly carnage that occurred in the name of nationalism! The horror is still etched in the collective consciousness of India and Pakistan as is witnessed by incidents of communal mayhem that occur only too frequently.
Now the time has come for us to free ourselves from the ghosts of partition, to realise that there are no victors in a war, and that our vicious mutual hatred is an open-invitation for a third country to step in and take advantage of our national animosity. Let us not slip into a new slavery — this time around we may not be fortunate enough to get a second chance at independence.
Let all right-minded citizens of both countries come together to work for peace and unity. That will be true independence.
Jai Hind!
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Some interesting links on the subject of India's Independence Day:
● Pt. Nehru's Tryst With Destiny speech
● Guruprasad's Portal
Rare video uploaded by Guruprasad
● Press Information Bureau's Release
Please note:
The sites mentioned above (and cited elsewhere in the article) are completely independent of www.angloindian.chapmanhilton.com; I have no connection with the listed sites.
Article compiled from various resources by H. Chapman
(webmaster@angloindian.chapmanhilton.com)
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— H. Chapman
