Free and falling

I've been listening to the song Free falling by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. When he sings, 'and I'm freeeeeeee', I feel jubilant :-)

Well, my captive readers, with Independence Day round the corner, do you really feel free ? I am certainly no good at taking the preachy route because I know this generation (which includes ME) will never know the true flavour of pre-independence era.

 

When I was younger, my brother & I used to accompany our dad to his office on Independence Day. During the flag-hoisting, all the kids would be made to stand in attention right in front and sing the national anthem. My brother & I were sure this was because the elders did not know the national anthem! Which may have been true ;-)

Nowadays in some movie theatres, the national anthem is played before screening the movie. I always sing in a low volume observing that I am usually one of the few. I suppose most people do sing in their minds or in even lower volumes!

In my Xth Std, I was the House-Captain of Chetak House ( Not after the Bajaj scooter in case you're thinking on those lines :P ). In this school, all the Houses were named after Air Force Fighter jets - Ajeet, Shamsher & Kiran the remaining. Everyone would've participated in march-past and I for one, loved the whole concept. Even today, I don't fail to catch the Republic Day parade Live. Of all the things I miss about school, march-past, sports day, annual day - these would top the list ! For the Independence Day parade, all the House Captains would be the flag-bearers (i.e the girls). The boys would command their respective Houses - Eyes Right, Forward March etc. My co-House Captain was one chap called Sh. My House was the first in order and I had to follow the Head Girl-Head Boy. Sh & my house would follow me. I would prance ahead with my Red flag very proudly. My school had a really huge playground and another gate leading out of the ground apart from the main entrance. During one of the practice sessions, the back gate was open and a boisterous cow/bull/buffalo (don't recall) came charging in. At once, panic set in. Everyone ran helter-skelter including the cow :-D The guards managed to chase it back right out the same way it entered. The funniest part was, since I marched with the Red Flag, all the little scared kids were sure it was because of yeh didi aur uski laal udti hui jhanda. Everyone, at some time in their life , realizes that the bull & its attraction to red is a cock-and-bull story sans an iota of truth. Nevertheless on August 15th, I couldn't help take a sneak-peak and check to ensure the back gate was safely shut !!

I wish you all a Happy Independence Day !!! 62 Yrs of Freedom and counting.