Is it not strange that 62 years after the nation gained Independence, one little citizen has dared to carve this unpolished encomium in honor of the great sacrifices you have made, so that I can sit leisurely at my cozy little room and write these lines. We had not made efforts to know your name, your language, religion or even caste, because for those who matter today in the country, these are really immaterial. Mind you they will dig up your graves even after a century if that will move them an inch forward, and spend millions of rupees from the national trasury, without any qualms of conscience! But that is a different story, you may be well aware of!
True, I did not even venture to verify if you are a male or a female, or even the third gender! I know you have betrayed a wicked smile, and I do understand that whatever be the gender, there were people who placed their lives at the altar of freedom, without realizing that they would never taste of it! There were no press photographers flocking to you, to have that rare 'shot' for their exclusive story. For them you were not even worth a line at the last page, and so is my blog in your honor! I would have been delighted to post your photo on my blog, if only I could find one!
I know you are suspecting why I ventured to shower these beautiful words in your honour! Have I anything to gain out of this? You know only too well that in the midst of over the one hundred and ten crore people, who is this one little creature, trying to dig up the old graves! I can still see the boot-marks of the great men who trampled over your graves with utter insensitivity, not realizing that the freedom that we enjoy today, and they milk today is but the fruit of your labour! The annals of this great nation were written in your blood, and today it is they who have changed history! Forgive them dear, forgive them!
Do you believe that with the Indian Independence, all the maladies which haunted the nation were gone for ever? No, today we are infested with a far severe malady, the men and women who would sell the nation to fill their belly; people who would let hundreds and thousands die in the name of development; leaders who can blindly sell the national pride to other wealthier nations, with no sense of shame! Look around and see, what the freedom you fought for has come to! Look at the millions still starving in the remote corners of the nation, dalits and tribals still struggling to get what is rightfully their own, the indigenous people being decimated day by day! Look brother, sister, look around!
It is time for you to rise up from your grave, to don your costumes and march into the lanes and bylanes of our nation! Let the trumpet sound, and let all the souls of the departed martyres rise up to reclaim the land for her people! You will not be remembered henceforth in this lonesome pillar in the midst of vast expanse; you will live in the hearts of every Indian, living and dead! But rise up Brother, rise up Sister, before it is too late! As you rise up, I bow my head in humble adoration and reverance, for you are truly a son and daughter worth your name, and your Mother will only be honored by your valor! May your clan increase!
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