Independence Day Speech written on 12th august, 2010

“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high, ….. into that heaven of freedom my Father, let my country awake.” 15th of August, 1947, is a red letter day in the history of India. It was on this day that Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru was sworn in as our 1st Prime minister. Our leaders had sacrificed much to gain independence from the British. The year 1947, and subsequent years saw a lot of bloodshed as a result of the partition of India into two separate nations based on religion – India and Pakistan. Years later, when things finally settled down, people started realizing the opportunities they could take advantage of, being citizens of a democratic country. 63 years later, we, the future of our great nation, stand here today to applaud and commemorate their wonderful contributions.
BUT, one question that comes to the mind when we seriously think about the literal concept of independence is, are we actually independent? Are we actually being allowed to live up to the expectations of our martyrs and utilize the available opportunities for the benefit of the nation at large? Or are we mere puppets in the hands of a few politicians who have infiltrated the so-called democracy with their so very autocratic ideas? Gender and caste discrimination has considerably decreased, the country is secure on the food aspect, literacy rate has considerably increased, but still, the rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer. Most people, at the grass root level, are not able to maintain a nutritious diet because of the herculean increase in prices of general commodities. On the other hand, we see people from the richer strata of society wasting food, wasting money, disrespecting the added advantage they have got of being born into a financially secure family. Is this independence? Does this depict equality?
The constitution says that India is a democracy. A democracy is a political institution which is for the people, of the people and by the people. Look around and ponder. Is it actually so? Or are we being dominated by those in power? We very easily make fleeting comments like politics is a gutter, it is dirty, I don’t want to join politics. And then we say that our nation is being ruled by goons. We, as the next generation, need to realize that we have to be in the system to change the system. Only pitying on the state of our country and doing nothing about it won’t help.
India is a country with a very rich heritage. It is perhaps the only country which has 18 major languages and over 600 dialects. This very country saw the beginning of the green, white and blue revolutions. We should be proud of what we possess and should work towards polishing it for turning our country into a developed nation by 2020, as Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam had very fondly envisioned. And we need to do this NOW, as ONE nation. Let us take the pledge to make full use of our opportunities and propel the country towards being another major super power in the world. Jai Hind.

Thank You For Loving Me

Of death, I was never afraid,

Of love, never sure

Of trust, never too trustful.

You uncorked your emotions –

And let them freely flow

After countless years of waiting

You at last let me know.

Finally we are there,

You and me, high up on top of the world

I stand by your side

Take your hand in mine;

We look out into the horizon –

The never-ending horizon of our love.

Yes, our love.

You made me realize that I love you too

You opened my eyes and made me believe

I couldn’t but accept the truth

Fear death now I do, I fear losing you.

I remember the time when we were kids

We fought worse than two countries at war.

Now that I look back, I laugh.

Someone long back told me

‘Love begins with hatred.’

I say, it ends in bliss.

I cross my heart and swear to God

I’ll never leave your side

I’ll hold your hand and together

We shall brave the world.

You are not alone and never will be

I thank you for loving me.

Raped and Resurrected

She was only thirteen
And he was twenty-three
When he came into her life.
She saw him as her saviour –
A saviour from loneliness.
She trusted him blindly
She thought she was on an island
With only him as company.
People warned her against it
But she didn’t listen
She was caught in her own whirlpool.
She could not come out of it.
Then one day,
She was lost in her dreams
When he came, and he raped her
Again and again.
She begged and screamed
And cried and sobbed.
He left her there, bleeding –
Blood that belonged to them both...
She locked herself up for days
“Kill me!!!”, she used to scream.
She grew up with that hatred.
And now she is nineteen
She prepares herself to face him again.
She puts on a beautiful smile;
Not wanting to give anything away;
Not wanting anybody to know.
She beckons to him
And he follows her to the same room.
She bolts the door from inside
And asks him to sit.
She comes close to him
And clamps her hand on his mouth.
She pulls out a knife.
What does she see in his eyes?
Fear? Regret? Apology? Death???
She doesn’t care. She stabs him.
And strangles him. And castrates him.
Poor man, he can’t even scream.
He’s dead. She stands there
Bathed in his blood –
Blood that belonged to them both.
She has had her revenge.
She has been resurrected.
She has been born again.

Yours Forever and Always

I fly down to your place to meet you
After three long years.
Though I speak to you everyday,
My heart seems to have gone crazy
From take-off to touchdown.
I don’t know what is in store
I don’t know what will happen
I don’t know anything.
I come out of the airport
And see you standing there
With that angelic smile of yours;
Something that belongs only to me.
I can’t see any further
Because I am blinded by tears.
I don’t know, but somehow
I am suddenly in your arms.
You hold me like you’ll never let me go
I have lost all sense of time.
We stand there for a while,
Then you take my hand
And take me to the car.
You open the door for me to sit
But I can’t get my eyes off you
I can’t even risk a blink.
I feel you might disappear.
We drive down to some place;
I don’t care where,
As long as I am with you.
But you know that place is my favourite.
Now we are walking along the road
You ask me to close my eyes.
I’m afraid, but I close them anyway
I open them after a while
And see you have disappeared.
My heart skips a beat
And then I look down.
There you are, on your knees
With a ring in hand
And your angelic smile in place
My heart skips two beats.
I know what you will say
But I still want you to say it.
You do, and I say yes,
Yes, I will. I am yours forever.

I’m Waiting…

Every time I look into your eyes
I don’t know why
The whole world seems to spin around.
Every time I take your hand in mine
Nothing else seems important.
I don’t want you to go,
Not this time, not ever.
I can’t bid anymore farewells
I have run out of goodbyes.
I want you to hold me in your arms
And say, “Baby, I love you.
I’ll never leave you. Trust me.”
Trust me… yes, that is what I want to do.
You need to help me, though;
Help me get rid of the demons of my past
So I can trust you from within.
I am scared of falling again
I am scared of losing again.
But you tell me not to worry;
You won’t let me lose
You’ll pick me up when I fall.
I believe you. Because I want to.
I’m tired of dwelling in the past.
Perhaps you are the one
Who’ll bring me out of it;
Teach me to live again, love again.
Baby, I’m waiting…
Waiting for you to become reality,
To come out of my fantasies
And help me out of this mess.
I’m waiting…

Betrayal

Do you know what it is like
To love? To trust?
To open up the caverns of your heart
To somebody you wish to make your own?
And that person allows you to
Putting on an invisible mask;
A mask of sincerity, of loyalty.
You empty out your deepest secrets
And the person – listens
And smirks. An invisible smirk, though;
Which you can’t see
Because you are blinded by trust.
Other people tell you otherwise
Try to remove your coloured glasses
But you? You don’t listen.
And then, suddenly, one day
You realize the reality
Everything around seems to shatter
Like apparently unbreakable glass.
You think now, why you didn’t listen then
Why you didn’t see that smirk
That invisible mask.
Why? Why? Why? You keep asking yourself.
You don’t get an answer.
And then you make a decision
- A decision never to trust, never to love
Never to be betrayed.
Never. Never again...

The Mind

The mind has unfathomable strength
Harness this strength and make it your own
Else it will make you the slave
And itself, the Master
- Invincible, uncontrollable, indestructible.
Control it before controls you.
Let it wander, fantasize;
But pull it back
The moment it goes out of bounds
Because once it does, the pain you feel
Of not living your fantasies
The frustration, the anger –
It gets at you
And then? Then you are gone.
BOOM!!! Just like that!
Broken into thousands of little pieces
It is difficult to find them all
And put them back together again
But you don’t lose hope
You keep trying to find those shards of you
And in the end, you succeed;
You succeed in controlling your mind
That mind, with that unfathomable strength…
You succeed…