Adv Anpama Singh | Happy 80th Independence Day!
A Freedom We Must Use Wisely!
The morning breeze carried the chirping of birds and, somewhere down the lane, the faint crackle of a loudspeaker. The national anthem had begun to play.
I stepped onto the balcony.
Above me, the tricolour fluttered against a monsoon-grey sky, its colours vivid against the clouds. For a moment I simply stood there and listened.
And I found myself thinking about how easily we use certain words these days — freedom of speech, democracy, rights, liberty. We say them almost like passwords, expecting them to open every door, without pausing to ask what responsibilities come with the keys.
Perhaps that is the strange thing about freedom. When people have to fight for it, they understand its value. When it arrives as a birthright, we sometimes forget the price that was paid for it.
When Freedom Becomes a Birthright
History offers a striking comparison.
In the United States, women waited 144 years after independence before the 19th Amendment secured constitutional voting rights, in 1920. Generations marched, protested, and fought their way to the ballot box.
India took a different path.
When our Constitution came into force, Indian women did not have to wait another generation to be recognised as political equals. Universal adult suffrage was part of the foundation of our Republic. From the very beginning, Indian women stood as equal citizens, with the right to vote and to help shape the nation's destiny.
Think about the magnitude of that decision. A country emerging from colonial rule, burdened by poverty, illiteracy, and social division, still chose to trust its citizens with the vote — including its women.
That was not merely a constitutional provision. It was an extraordinary act of faith in the people of India.
And yet, sometimes I wonder whether we understand the value of what we inherited.
Modernity Is Not Vulgarity
Lately I have been wondering what we have started confusing with being modern, rebellious, or politically aware.
Is disrespect automatically rebellion? Is abuse automatically dissent? Is cynicism automatically intelligence?
Questioning governments is a right. Criticising leaders is a right. Holding those in power accountable is not only legitimate — it is necessary.
But there is a difference between criticism and contempt, dissent and abuse, courage and mere provocation.
India has always valued a certain dignity in the way we speak — to women, children, elders, and even to those with whom we disagree. We were taught to pause before speaking, to choose our words with care, and to remember that our manner of speaking reflects our own character.
Today, somewhere between modernisation and freedom of speech, that pause seems to be disappearing. We have begun mistaking vulgarity for fearlessness, profanity for intelligence, and personal insults for political awakening.
And then we defend it with two words: "Freedom of speech."
But freedom of speech is not a licence to abandon civility.
We can be modern without becoming crude. We can be fearless without becoming abusive. We can challenge authority without dehumanising those who disagree with us. We can speak freely without turning public discourse into gutter language.
That is not progress. That is not rebellion. And it certainly is not what I see in the best of today's Gen Z.
The Rebellion I Admire
Because when I look at young India, I see something far more exciting.
I see the twenty-something building a rural logistics startup from a tier-two city. I see the young coder developing technology for Indian languages. I see students organising clean-up drives, artists carrying Indian traditions to the world, and young entrepreneurs creating jobs instead of merely searching for them.
I see young Indians questioning old systems — not to destroy them, but to make them better.
That is the rebellion I admire.
Creation.
Innovation.
Questioning.
Building.
Taking the freedom we inherited and turning it into something useful. Because freedom is powerful. But power without wisdom can become destructive.
What Do We Do With Our Freedom?
The generations before us did not endure imprisonment, poverty, violence, and sacrifice so that we could inherit a free country and then reduce our public discourse to abuse and contempt.
They fought so that a woman could walk into a polling booth and cast her vote. So that a citizen could question those in power. So that newspapers could criticise governments. So that young people could dream beyond the circumstances into which they were born. So that we could take this enormous, complicated, imperfect, beautiful country and make it better.
The anthem had ended by then. The loudspeaker fell silent. The flag continued to flutter in the wind.
And I realised that perhaps the greatest way to honour our freedom is not merely to celebrate that we have it, but to ask what we are doing with it.
We have the right to speak. Let us also have the wisdom to know how to speak.
We have the right to question. Let us have the courage to question responsibly.
We have the right to disagree. Let us never forget that disagreement does not make us enemies.
This Independence Day, I don't want to celebrate freedom only as the right to speak. I want to celebrate something deeper — the wisdom to use that freedom well.
Because freedom is not merely a gift we received from the past. It is a responsibility we must carry into the future.
Thanks for stopping by.
See you in the next read!
...Anu
Spill. Stir. Stay tuned As Not all drama belongs in court.
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