INDEPENDENCE DAY

To dream is a privilege of a free soul. 

A fight mankind has been fighting since its inception is to be a free soul & exist without fear. And while many species still fight the natural powers to just survive, mankind has most certainly overcome many of those natural threats. In fact, with probably a 9mm pistol and a sharp mind, humans pretty much are at the top of the natural food chain. But since that wasn't enough, mankind also decided to create a food chain within itself and co-existence was no more the principle of survival for humans as a species. Nature was too easy. We needed more and we chose each other to fight for survival and keep the instinct alive.

In any given lifetime, the journey to survive usually engages us more than the joy of surviving and existing.

Happy Independence Day. 

One of our most recent journeys as a group of people who did actually decide to co-exist and not struggle for survival within each other was the Independence of our country. We clearly agreed that the Britishers had to leave since not only could they not co-exist with us but also were quite adept at exploiting us in many creative ways. The independence was worth a celebration because we survived. People’s rule was implemented and a system was created to make it most suitable for all those who decided to co-exist under the banner of India. Not a perfect one, but a system, nevertheless.

In the wake of this Independence day, a correction was given to that system with respect to the state of Kashmir. The principle on which a co-existence was established 72 years ago has evolved in many ways over the years and more importantly disturbed in many more ways by many people. But this general unfamiliarity and a geopolitical chaos between the people who had decided to co-exist in 1947 has clearly been exploited in just as many creative ways by all its stakeholders over a period of time, and yet again, the idea of co-existence has detached itself as a principle of survival within the people.

Now, something has changed.

Recently, the people of India decided that Kashmir, in its current socio-economic state had become a hindrance for its own and the overall good of the country. It decreed that it had to now directly establish administrative control in Kashmir for it to truly be a simpler place to exist even if the represented majority expressed otherwise. Kashmir will now call itself a territory of the Indian Union instead of a State with a separate constitution, though the judiciary is still out to verify the legality of this decision made by the people of India. That aside, India clearly indicated its will with this action and also implied that the general political leadership of Kashmir had either become too stubborn or misled and immature to participate in this discussion of co-existence when it made this change in concurrence with the Governor of the state instead of the assembly.

Decisive politics should usually be an effect of harmonious and reasonable co-existence. In this case though, this decision is meant to serve as a means to reach the same end. This strict treatment with Kashmir must clearly be understood by our generation as an endeavour to nurture a path of co-existence. Nothing more & certainly nothing lesser.

There is no point in taking responsibility of Kashmir and solving the complex issue which has generated years of tension, if we truly can’t. Our egos must take a back seat and we must introspect to put our best foot forward. Kashmiris and Indians, both. The political system of Kashmir has changed, not its identity. Ultimately, a positive, strong and free identity of each individual is required to be called free as a nation or a state or a Union Territory and both Kashmir & India have a long way to go in that endeavour anyway. Whether going together strengthens or weakens that effort will depend on the spirit of this new form of co-existence more than its systemic setup. Whether Kashmir will again be able to dream freely and slowly let the joy of existence overcome the instinct to survive is now a direct function of the actions and ability to reason of the people of India and Kashmir 

With this responsibility to solve a longstanding problem that our generation now collectively carries, I hope that India dreams of a future which nurtures the soul of each Indian citizen and each Independence Day becomes a grand celebration of just existing together.

Because to dream is a privilege of a free soul. And we are free.  

Jai Hind.