Celebrating Independence

August 15, 1947. India obtained independence from Great Britain. So India celebrates Independence day annually on August 15th. For the past eight years, I was never in India during this day. When you are away from the country in a remote location, you still remember the day. But there are no celebrations. When friends surround you, it is different. I remember the day when I attended the Independence Day celebration at the Embassy of India in Paris with a group of friends. For the past five years, things have been different.

I am living in Great Britain right now. In other words, I am living in the country from which my ancestors struggled to get independence from. I am too shameless to feel guilty, but I put my brain into overdrive by analyzing the irony. I never have to display my Indianness consciously. My physical looks and my accent takes care of it. While my physical features can be attributed to my parents, I take the full credit for my accent. There were many occasions where I could have worked on neutralizing the accent. But the inherent laziness has always helped in retaining this characteristic. 

The feeling of an outsider always put me on guard. The constant worry about the surroundings doesn't let me show abundant joy at any time. As a result, all celebratory events in India is a day of business as usual. On the contrary, the guard easily comes down when I am surrounded by friends. With water levels rising in Kerala due to excessive rains, everything else faded into the background. But my friend was excited about the Independence Day. Rightfully so. As she was living in the UK, she wanted to share the joy with her coworkers.

So my friend approached one of the coworkers. Knowing what happened there, I would have advised her to choose wisely. This coworker is not the nicest of the person in the world. He can be called direct. But what is the point of being direct if one is rude and insensitive? Unbeknownst to what lay ahead of her, my friend announced with a lot of joy. "Today we, Indians, celebrate our independence day." He might have offered an expressionless look for she went ahead to explain. "India got freedom from Great Britain." The colleague looked at her and replied coldly. "Then why don't you get out of our country?"

My friend retreated into a shell after this incident. She was devastated by this response. In her mind, she holds her responsible. But what baffles me is a simple question. Who is the wrongdoer here?

Photo Courtesy: Satish Krishnamurthy