The youth are ready to carry forward our legacy
ARJUN NARAYANAN
As I watched the nation drench in the euphoria of the 60th anniversary of Independence, I traced a few steps back when the country celebrated its golden jubilee. I was born in the 40th year of Independence. Hence the first big Independence Day celebrations that remained etched in my memory were those of the 50th anniversary.
I certainly recall, quite dotingly, the rhapsody that prevailed ten years ago. I was in my fifth grade. By then, the young nation with an old civilisation had endured through umpteen triumphs, tribulations and turmoil. It is quite true that an average Indian experiences Independence Day mainly through the television, magazines and newspapers.
In spite of the arrival of satellite TV, television was quite inchoate then. But it did not stop the handful of TV channels from relentlessly airing patriotic programmes and the evergreen Lata number Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon. It was t
he year A.R. Rahman rocked the nation with his bilingual rendition of Vande Mataram, which soon got integrated with the celebrations.
Cerebral
As a child, I sensed the excitement even then, though mainly through special golden jubilee stickers, flags and mementoes. But today, thanks to the media boom, the celebration has been more or less intellectual for me, wherein I have been able to hear diverse views and opinions on the past 60 years of India.
India has grown, like me, in the past ten years. In the 1990s, it showed the same instability as a 10 year old child; so much so that we had five Prime Ministers in 10 years.
But since the 50th Independence Day celebrations, stability has returned and we are now a growing nation, both in size and mind. Beginning with the nuclear tests, the Kargil war, confidence building measures with the neighbours, the astounding economic upsurge, the great Indian market boom and finally culminating in the nuclear deal, India has come a full circle.
We have become the international face of Asia and Indians are going places (quite literally). One might vehemently argue that I have left out the disquieting and shameful episodes that have troubled and defamed us in these years. But that is India, which has been the epitome of resilience and optimism.
Optimism
From a country that was doomed to be torn in a civil war after Independence (as many critics opined), we have stood forever forward looking and united, proving our detractors wrong. Perhaps our biggest achievement today is that we have regained the optimism which had sustained us through the 1950s and the 60s.
I would like to leave those shameful incidents behind, though minor scars should remain, reminding us of the dangers that have to be avoided (though we consistently never avoid them).
India symbolises my generation. Concerns are being raised and many are critical of India’s (and this generation’s) vulgar materialism, obsession with the shining India, forgetting the obscure Bharat and being a bit schizophrenic and confused in the midway. But national development is to be handed over to this very generation, which will understand India better than anyone else.
For me, India has not entered the retirement age of 60, but has touched the sweet age of 16, like a spirited youngster. Perhaps that is why the youth are ready to carry forward the glorious legacy of India’s ancient past along with the euphoria of a bright future. There is always a reason to smile.
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