Saturday, January 27, 2007

Do you know the difference between Independence Day and Republic Day?



(Our then Prime Minister, Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru, signing the Indian Constitution)
To get our civics straight, India gained independence on August 15, 1947, it was not until January 26, 1950 that the constitution of India came into effect, endowing upon the citizens the sovereign powers! Our constitution is the one of the longest written constitution in the world!

BTW what do you understand by republic? Previously India had Monarchy, after Independence Monarchy was replaced by Repuplics, so in short, republicans are anti monarchy! In a republic we all have the right to choose our leader; contrary to the hereditary heirs in monarchy. Are you a true Indian republican??

After u have had enough food for thought, here is another factoid: Did you know Kenyans celebrate 'Jamhuri Day', (Jamhuri meaning ‘republic’ in Swahili) on the 12th of December while Guyana (in Latin America) eagerly indulges into lots of merry singing, lively dancing and calypso competitions on the 23rd of February, the Mashramani day? On 29th October, 1923
, the constitution of Turkey was amended, a formal dissolution of the Ottomans.

To mark the Republic day in Kuwait, our home away from home, the Hot Stepper Association of Kuwait had set up a fun evening in the literal sense, Naveen Prabhakar (Pehchan Kaun fame) the Laughter challenge champion (A very successful star one show) was invited only for one reason: to get us bursting with laughter of all sorts. He was extremely talented, after a long time I really found my face muscles stretching their limits!! If you can trust me, you could find everyone rolling off their seats on his native comedy!

I think Humour is one factor that binds us all, each country having its distinct rib tickles. For example, in our humour we ought to get cracking on Laloo Prasad Yadav and off course our own sweet Santa Singh ‘sardarji’.

It was a great feeling to be shouting my lungs out ‘Vande Matram’! It filled the air with a sense of devotion for my motherland and how proud I felt to be an Indian. I returned home with a sense of belonging.

But does this end here?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi r we truly republic? I mean do we really have much choices? I think politics or rather the indian politicians gives china an edge over India..to be truly republic we need freedon from corruption :-) nyways its easy to say vande matram from here, we can't do much abt it ;-)

.S. said...

First, thank you for your comment.

Second, if we are talking choices, we have many choices, its a matter of getting out of ur regular mundane lives and thinking abt it.

Being a republic means having the right to vote, to vote for the just, we need to be educated, did u think of sponsoring a child's education?

Being republican is to have yr own voice, have u tried being a part of an NGO for unemployed or poor or a school for the disabled. Provide some monetary funding, or even volunteer to participate in their activities instead of vacationing for a whole month.

Republican means, standing for the state and its people, have u tried some community service?

If you had been to this concert in shaab park, it was an act of being a true republican, prashant did what he wanted to do, he wanted all Indians to be a part of it, and so the made sure that they were. He sold the tickets at 2 kd!
I hope u understand now why screaming 'vande matram' felt so good.

I don't blame you, its just that in our hectic lives, we forget where we come from, is when we stop making any difference!

Powered By Blogger