#independencedayweekend

May our spirits be high with our flag. Let us always work hard to contribute to the progress of our country. Happy Independence Day from Rizochem Pharmaceuticals and to all our Indians

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KOLKATA: A majority of resorts and weekend getaways within 100 km radius of the city are packed to the capacity during the Independence Day weekend as tired Kolkatans looking for a break are preferring resorts and locations closer home over usual weekend hotspots like Digha, Mandarmani, Shantiniketan and Bakkhali. The reason — a state government stipulation making a Covid negative report or double vaccination certificate mandatory for travellers heading to popular travel destinations and the urge from responsible travellers to choose destinations closer home where test reports are not mandatory yet.

Yet again, our Independence day has arrived. Yes! Rejoice! Enjoy!

And yeah, I understand not having an extra holiday on weekdays. Independence day should not fall on Sunday. I agree with you, but let’s submit to Steve Maraboli’s wisdom ‘You must learn to let go. Release the Stress. You were never in control anyway.’

So let’s dump our disappointment about a holiday on the weekend and let’s focus on the context. Freedom and Independence day. I spent last several years studying and understanding our National Struggle for Independence. Bipan Chandra has his way of painting the picture. Wink! Wink! LOL!

I have a lot of free time these days, and so I keep revisiting main storyline of our national freedom struggle. It is interesting to find the single thread to lead the story. Along with it, my mind repeatedly remembers old social gatherings and school lectures which introduced me to the movement.

Discovery that a story has multiple angles was the brightest day of my life. And since then my life has not been the same. Whenever I revisit National Movement, I see through these multiple angles to connect the dots. It is like the rediscovering everything once again. It is fun and empowering.

Gandhi is great, good, or bad based on how you see it.

Gandhi vs Ambedkar, Gandhi vs Subhash Chandra Bose, Gandhi vs Jinnah, Gandhi vs Bhagat Singh these are a few of the angles.

I had a friend in my study group. He was Hindu, and he was obsessed with Jinnah. He spent some serious time understanding Jinnah’s role in Indian National Movement and how his political route diverged from the Congress.

Whenever we talked, I used to bark at him with a preconceived notion that character Jinnah is an enemy. I never read about Jinnah before him. But slowly and slowly, things changed. My arrogance that came out of my ignorance settled down against his understanding of the Jinnah’s character.

I discovered a human being beyond legend. Same thing happened about Savarkar, Gandhi, Ambedkar, Tilak and some more characters in the story.

This rediscovery achieves its pinnacle while revisiting constituent assembly.

Come from any background, hold your beliefs, love Gandhi, hate Gandhi, love congress, hate congress, but when you see the picture of constituent assembly and stand in the spirit of the makers of the constitution, you suddenly understand the meaning of the freedom and Independence.

Everything that has happened before and everything that is ever going to happen in the future goes through that sacred time. Greatest minds in the country sat together, keeping aside their differences and with commitment that we can build a nation. They all committed to build tools and mechanism and ways for the future generations to follow.

And here we are. A leaf fell in the river and started flowing with it.

So what do you think freedom is?

Is freedom like natural resource we can consume?

Or an event or festival that we celebrate?

Or ocean of positive emotions that we bathe in once a year?

Or is it a blog post?

Or a selfie?

Or a projection of a caricature?

Or identity politics?

Or patriotism and respect?

Or trolling online?

What is it?

Years back, on this same date, we got our freedom.

We are still discovering it.