August 15, 2009 Independence Day

Dear Children,

Today is India’s 63^rd birthday!

India was born to freedom on 15^th of August 1947.

Your parents were not born.

Your grandparents were young and fighting to free our country. So it is difficult for you to understand the excitement of that Day 63 years ago, when India at the stroke of midnight broke away from British Rule.

But, I am sure you have heard many stories told by your grandparents about how we got our freedom.

And, will agree that we must celebrate 15^th of August to thank all those people who made India a free country.

It is also a day for thanking our brave soldiers who guard our country’s independence with their lives everyday. They live by the code of ‘country before self’. No thought of family or self, but love of the country. Let us say thank you to them on this important Day.

What about the thousands of people who choose to dedicate their lives to their countrymen; working to protect our trees and rivers, for water conservation, working for the uplift of the poor, for the education of children, for rural health and for the millions of ways that people dedicate their lives for their country. Everyday they struggle to make our country better.

15^th of August seems a fitting day to pay tribute to these selfless people.

It is also a day when we need to celebrate the fact that India is a free and democratic country and has been so for 63 years! This is no mean achievement. Look around at our neighbours. Pakistan, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, China. How many of them are democracies?

15^th August, Independence Day, is our day of celebration, it is also our Day of fun. But, It is also a day when we need to set aside a few hours to say “I Love You” to our country and ‘Thank You’ to all of our countrymen for all our achievements and the good things that we have.

We need to know that we owe these few hours on 15^th August and 26^th January to our country and to our school where we are given freedom and treated with dignity. We need to dedicate these hours willingly, not grudgingly.

So let us celebrate the fact that we live in such a great country and let us promise to do our bit to keep it great.

Nalini Sengupta