Friends, Independence Day and Republic
Day are the two most important days for all of us. We grow up from our
childhood by celebrating these two days with a great feeling of being an Indian
and living as an Indian. I still remember those days where we as kids used to wake
up early in the morning at 5 AM, take bath and get ready by 7 AM, apply Tilak on
the forehead and go to the school with a great enthu. Going to the school
without carrying schoolbag on our shoulders on these days used to make these
days much more joyous :) As soon as we enter
the school gates, we used to pin the Tricolored flag to our shirt pocket and
that moment and that inner feeling we experience when we pin the flag is
something that cannot be expressed in words. One can only experience that but
not experiment to put it in words.
That experience was so special that we didn’t want to miss
that feeling even while at college. We continued that tradition of wearing
flags in C lawns at BITS from 2006 onwards through Nirmaan. While there are
always few tech geeks who play computer games throughout the night and sleep
during flag hoisting time in the hostel rooms but there used to be a good
number of people who religiously used to take part in flag hoisting ceremony. I
remember that after we started launching a massive campaign for increasing attendance
for flag hoisting, the attendance has gone up drastically. I always proudly
claim that is one best thing that I have done at BITS :)
After coming out of BITS, I started celebrating these two
days with school children at nearby Government schools where we work as a part
of our school adoption program. This tradition still continues in Nirmaan.
Nirmaan volunteers across different places take part in republic day and Independence
Day celebrations in a large number along with their friends and colleagues. As
I write this blog, am sure at least a 100 or 150 members of our Nirmaan army might
be participating in 10 to 15 different schools creating a great sense of patriotism
among the kids in those schools.
From last few years, it’s almost become a tradition that every
year I travel to my village for August 15th to take part in
Independence Day celebrations. As a part of it, we conduct a huge rally in our
village with school children shouting patriotic slogans and singing patriotic
songs to create that feeling of being part of this great nation. Then we
assemble at Government School ground and conduct a meeting where we talk about
what the day means for us from a practical stand point. Following that, as a
personal contribution, I distribute “Dr Abdul Kalam Grama Ratna award” for best
performing student of the village choosing students from nearby villages. I
also give away Dr Abdul Kalam Merit Scholarships to the top three best performers
in each class of our Government school. I started this initiative few years
back to identify and encourage the merit students in rural areas and to show
them as examples or role models for the rest of the students to follow those
awardees in terms of doing well in studies.
This time I neither took part in celebrations at my village
nor at Bangalore. Rather I have celebrated the Republic Day here in
US with our Indians who have either settled here or who are going to work from
here for few years. Celebrations here in no means are so less important. People
may not hoist flags here the way we do in India but the Indians over here have
that great feel of Republic Day on 26th Jan. In fact when we are
outside India, we actually realize what India stands for and why our country is
so great for all of us. On this important occasion, around a 15 of us who are
staying in nearby places of San Francisco came together on a purpose of
discussing ways in which we can contribute back to the deserving people in
India. It was a great feeling for all of us to meet after a long time.
After we were all done with our personal conversations over
the awesome lunch in an Indian restaurant called Dosa Bawarchi, we moved to the nearby Cisco office and quickly jumped into our serious discussions on how we will contribute
back to people in India through Nirmaan. First I presented about Nirmaan and its activities and then we discussed not only the ways by
which the team here can support the projects in India but also run the projects
in India. Everybody gave inputs on how we can gather
people staying here in California, organize events and activities and
convert the team into a full-fledged chapter supporting the projects in
India in a big way. We have also agreed on the point that the US team would act as ambassadors
for Nirmaan in abroad especially in setting up partnerships with TANA, ATA and
other Indian associations here in US. I could see the passion and enthu among the
participants to sincerely take part in activities that could help people in
India. I am confident that this passion and enthu would take this initiative a
long way in terms of meeting the objectives of this meet. Singing Jana Gana Mana together in US on the eve of Republic Day has made the day so special. Thanks for everyone coming in and making the meet a great success.
Overall, it was a great
feeling today. We met on a great purpose. Republic Day is not meant to be just
another holiday. This day should remind us that it’s our collective
responsibility to ensure that the oppressed, disabled people and people
belonging to financially backward classes are accessible for opportunities be
it educational or employment or basic amenities. We need to do whatever is
needed for that.
Friends,
this event of Republic day is a culmination of our people’s long suppressed
aspiration for freedom and for self-governance. Let’s pay our homage to all the
martyrs of the Freedom Struggle. Let’s bow our heads before Mahatma Gandhi,
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, and all other great leaders who led from the
forefront for the aspiration of crores of Indians. Let the glorious legacy of our
freedom struggle continue to guide us in the making of India into a Global
supreme power. On this day, let us salute our soldiers, jawans of paramilitary
forces who laid down their lives in protecting our republic at borders in all
adverse conditions.
Let our commitment towards the
principles of secularism, social justice and non-violence remain firm as ever. Let us rededicate ourselves to the
noble principles of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity on which the
Republic of India was founded.
Jai Hind
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