EVEN as the nation celebrates 75 years of Independence, the most important aspect of the festivity is to develop a sense of deep gratitude towards countless numbers of great souls who laid the foundation of the New India of our collective dreams. Among those were scientists, artists, musicians, sportspersons, entrepreneurs, educations, medical doctors, engineering, adventurers and men in uniformed-services. These persons might not have taken part actually and physically in shouting slogans against the alien rulers or gone to jail while daring the British police, but they played a stellar role in scripting the story of a resurgent India of the future in different fields. It should be a matter of pride, pleasure and privilege for all of us to express our gratitude for all of them. And the simplest way of doing that is to dig out their stories of greatness from the larger story of India and present it to our younger generations. Most unfortunately, we must admit that the larger Indian society really does not know these stories in the manner appropriate.

 

We do not know how our industrialists in the British times built the Indian ethos in industry by standing equal to the oppressive British rulers. We do not know how patriotic sportspersons held high the Indian pride by performing well to the best of their abilities despite all odds. Only a few of us recall how hockey magician Major Dhyan Chand said a simple ‘no’ to the offer by German supremo Hitler to accept German citizenship. Only a few of us recall how our cricketers of early years dared the British players on that 22-yard strip and established their supremacy. We also do not know how Indian cinema grew to its present stature on the basis of the pioneering work done by early masters who did not have even a fraction of the facility that today’s film-makers enjoy. We also rarely know how Indian literature survived the ugly British onslaught and thrived to its present greatness.

 

That is the reason why we should enrich our lives by telling ourselves and our children the stories of this cumulative greatness that found fine expression in small, unknown individuals whose only strength was their immense pride in the Motherland. This has happened because we have taken our Independence for granted, because we have taken liberties with our Independence, because we have belittled the tremendous contribution of all these men and women and even children who saw the dream of a great India and enriched the quality of the struggle for Independence. These countless people gave the struggle its multiple facets and offered ever newer meanings to the word ‘freedom’. Unfortunately, in our homes and schools and colleges and society, these stories often go unnoticed -- which is a great grief. ‘Loud Thinking’ has often spent its space in singing songs of this greatness -- in sciences, in sports, in arts, in literature, in adventure, in culture. The loud-thinker, therefore, expresses a simple wish here -- Let us all make it a point to recall this greatness hidden in the labyrinthine societal memory. That will be our way to make our own contributions.