61st Independence Day - celebration or introspection??

                

Yet another independence day. our 61st. quite young for a nation whose history dates back to thousands and thousands of years of recorded glory and tradition. whatever be the history, we have left it behind. they often say history is a bucket of ash. the india that has travelled the path these 61 years has seen a transition from being underconfident, docile nation to a power to be reckoned with. the 'mood of the nation' has been upbeat over numerous achievements, growth stories and an image of shining india.
                But there has been a drastic change this year, the usual euphoria attached to the psyche of the nation with approaching indepenence day is lacking this time around. a notable feature being the magazines not covering the achievements of india, the heroes of india, the tremendous growth story of india, the prospects of a superpower india.
                 There are a multitude of factors responsible for this. on one hand where the rising fuel and essential commodities prices has dampened the mood of the majority of middle class and poorer section of people, the rains leading to floods in many parts of the country has imparted deathly blow to farmers. the bombings in cities like bengaluru, ahmedabad, surat recently, and jaipur and mumbai in the near past has instilled deep fear amongst the people.
               Where a poor man struggles to eat a full meal, a middle class parent struggles to arrange for money for higher education of his son or daughter, wads of thousand rupees notes are flouted in the seat of democracy, the parliament. what good does it do to the psyches of all those people? when the supreme court which has always provided ray of hope in grim situations say that even god cant help this country, all the spirit sags. to top it all the rit that has been produced in jammu and kashmir has further added to the feel bad factor. we as a nation hold J n K ina very different place in our hearts and such bloody turnout of events pains all of us.
                An invisible pall of gloom has shrouded the nation this year. it is not a very good sign for an emerging nation which has a lot at stake. just when the engine is gearing up to gather full steam, blockades in the path does no good to the journey or its passengers. hope the blockades are removed in time.