India got independence from the 200-year long British rule on 15^th August 1947 and thereafter became an independent nation. But in my views, our country still has a long way to go in achieving true freedom. For a country is all about its people and if the people are bounded by infinite chains of social division, societal pressure and stereotypes, then they are not really free.

Freedom is not just a word but a sense of being and belonging in a community without any unhealthy dependence weighing us down. This word, which was turned into a collective sense of a harmonious and independent society during our freedom struggle has surely contributed and resulted in an epic design of our present. But as its meaning suggests, the word itself does not hold any bounds at all for it can mean different to every individual.

For that poor boy in the slums, freedom may mean being able to learn and be whoever he wants to be without any constrictions following his every little step. For that rich girl in the mansion, freedom may mean being able to pursue her own dreams without any kind of pressure crawling into her head and caging her inside. These two can finally be free when they are not weighed down by their social statuses.

Well as for me, Freedom means being able to learn and write about different aspects of life, whether they be good or bad, and actually living all those without restrictions of any kind. These restrictions can be external as well as internal. Sometimes it is not the external pressure that bounds us but all those internal ones that nag at us all the time and eventually, make us limit our own freedom and sense of being. For example, as a student, exam pressure leads to overthinking and self-doubt which somewhere limits the free will of children to have their own distinct views on a topic.

And unfortunately, that is not all about this one. Have we ever done or said anything that might have hurt or constricted someone else’s freedom in any way? For we constitute this society as well. And by doing this we not only bound the society into mental stereotypes but we constrict ourselves too. As somewhere, we apply those stereotypes to ourselves and let it alter our thinking.

Hence, this Independence Day, I invite you all to ask yourselves what independence means to you and take a step towards eliminating all those stereotypes from our minds and help make this society free of these mental boundaries. As at the end of the day, we can be as free as we let ourselves and others be.

–By Srishti