How do you celebrate your Independence day?

Hi Mou 14/8 was our independence day and i do agree with u what u said, its all changed now. yesterday was friday and i was at mosque, The Maulana was saying, that What we are Doing, Riding bikes with high speed, Teasing women, All this Eating out, Staying out in night, all firework, Is this INDEPENDENCE then he said this remind blood sheds of hundred and thousand of muslim, are u celebrating theirr bloodsheed, Take care

I agree nobody thinks about the sacrifices and bloodsheds. But I make sure Independence Day is just not another holiday for me. I make it a point to visit the orphanage on that day and spend some time with the kids there.

You are absolutely right when you say that we treat this as just another holiday and I feel yes it has lost it's value. It's pathetic in a way. Our fore fathers sacrifised so much and gave their lives for us to get our freedom from oppression and from dominance. What are we doing with this freedom today ? We have taken our freedom for granted and have taken it as our right to do exactly what our forefathers and our great freedom fighters fought against. It is indeed very sadly that I have to say that many of us only look at being Independent as free to do what we want from an international perspective, of being able to what we please to do within the confines of our protected boundaries. My understanding of an Independant country is simple:- We are one people, united by all our differences which are only cultural and religious in nature. This does not give us the right to discriminate, dominate and oppress in the name of religion,caste or wealth and it certainly does not mean the right to further divide and seperate what our forefathers fought to keep together. It also means that we work together as one society towards the common betterment and improvement of the people, the natural resources ,our infrastructure, our envoirnment and all that which makes our country great. Mimpi, Independence day to me, is more than just a tribute to what our fore fathers did. It's a day of prayer for the welfare of my countrymen, it's a prayer that we realise and stop this divide and this bloodshed , and its a day of definite comittment from me to do my bit for my people and my country. I am always a very proud Indian.

Hi Mimipi, Well Happy Independence Day doesn't really ring true here does it if you are sad that the meaning behind it all has been lost. I feel much the same when people vandalised memorial to the people that have lost their lives fighting for their freedom and that of others to yet be born. No one appreciates these sacrifices anymore, sorry I should say few appreciate these sacrifices anymore, you and I definitely fo eh! Huggles from your friend Ellie :D

Trinidad got it in 1962 and, yes, attitudes have changed although not always for the better. The English were better organized and put the citizens first in most of their dealings. The successors are all money and power hungry and think only of themselves, thats for sure. Its your choice who is better for the country.

Well here in the Philippines we use to have parades and we display our flag in front of our homes. Sad to say though even we have our independence day our country is really not free. We are bound by international organizations who demand a lot from us thus making more people here poorer than ever. Also the government itself is suppressing press freedom as more and more journalist and freedom anti corruption advocates are getting killed by its corrupt officials. Maybe someday we would be independent too not only from the clutches of a foreign power but also from the poverty and other problems that still enslave us up to now.

Yes,you are correct,now independence day is just a holiday only and i think we Indians are giving less importance to this day.No we are not remembering the sacrifices of those people who fight to free our nation from foreign invasion.

I am afraid today's generation (generation -X )does not know the value of our Independence. Many of them would have come into this world after independence and may not be aware how we attained our independence. We get to hear about pre-independence era from our elders, how our great leadars fought tooth and nail to attain independence. The partriotism, which existed at that time is now missing from the scene. Today, no one appears to be bothering about the welfare of the country, everyone is interested in his own self and his own progress. No doubt, since our independence we have progressed well in some of the areas and we have become self reliant but lots needs to be done to elevate poverty and misery from our country. Even today some of the villages do not have light and electricity. Rich people are getting richer and poor people are getting poorer. The divide between haves and have nots is getting wider day by day, leading to unrest in the society in general. I just believe in discharging my duties towards my country, whatever duties I have been assigned and I believe if everyone starts discharging his duties sincerily and with due deligence, our country can progress better and soon it can become a 'developed country' from a 'developing country'. Excellent Post.

Awry medias encapsuling scenes of gory.. With Breaking news and flash news, Where the politicized hawkers incite a religious story. By fulminating the calming hues.. When my fore-fathers say..Independence is hard fought. Happening all over, wonders me.. why its is "brought". When the several myths and practices still leaves us slaves bonded.. That which has been on path, practiced..unbranded. Wreathe on Samadhis of Gandhi.. and Nehru on this day Never will serve purpose, when humanity is at bay.. So.. Mimpi.. Independence day for me is a rest day...may be having some more time to mylot.

I remember the day India got her independence, I was only a small child but my parents were so happy for them. Independence day in America is a holiday with family and the whole country celebrates with songs and fireworks. We probubly don't fully appreciate the meaning but we know our freedom means a lot and will fight for it whenever threatened.

Well after time people become complacent and too comfortable, making them forget what it took to become that comfortable. In my country, America, in every town and city, there is a big celebration. We usually have big fireworks displays and a lot of food to eat, no one forgets independence day because it is a very loud holiday when it comes to the fireworks haha. July 4th of this year I went to Washington DC for the celebration, and they had a great fireworks display and they was a lot to do, there were thousands and thousands of people there that day, so it was just too crowded to do somethings, like for example to look at the original copy of the Bill of Rights, Constituion, and Declaration of Independence. It was still a lot of fun though.

Well independence day is our day for our independent, here in Philippines we celebrated independence day June 12, 1987 this is the day about filipinos decide to have freedom and to set free.....

Thanks for initiating an interesting discussion: What independence day mean to us, Indians? Reality is that we experience problems faced by our ancestors through TV and books. It is true that on Independence day we feel that we need to be patriotic, we need to work for the progress of the country, but within days we will forget them due to our internal problems. First, India was never a nation since the concept of nation is not an ancient concept, it is the product of western influence on India. I think one need to accept this reality. For example, in the ancient times when Alexander invaded India, except Porus no one opposed the foreign invader. Indians did not oppose foreign invasions until the modern times. This is not to say that we did not oppose foreign invasion, for there are evidences that foreig invaders were challenged, but these were sporadic attempts and not unified ones. The 1857 movement shows that we did not deserve independence then,although we obtained independence in 1947 due to concerted efforts. This shows that by the 1940s Indians had learnt that they belonged to a single nation although the country was partitioned into two. But, nationalism is something which should emerge from within and not from outside. Let us take the example of America, which obtained independence from British control and it has always showed its patriotism. Perhaps, Americans have learnt lessons of patriotism bit early when compared to Indians. At the same time, I do not question inherent patriotism of Indians. We are belong to a nation of emergency. I mean that during times of emergency we get united. That is, during war period we realize that we belong to a single country. During the India-Pakistan wars, we were united. The Kargit war brought unity. What I want is that patriotism should not emerge due to external factors. How many Indians rise above localized demands. For example, in several places like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Goa and so on there is conflict between locals and outsiders. I am not sure that such conflicts exist in other countries of the world. A South Indian is hated by a North Indians. South Indians are ridiculed for not using Hindi language, which is not the mother tongue of majority of Indians. Unity in diversity is the term that is used in the case of India. Are we united? is the question. In the case of China, this country has taken great steps. Are our politicians patriotic? Do we have sufficient role models who are really patriotic. Politicians think in terms of their own petty intersts. In such a scenario we are not likely to work for the future of the country. True, the country has a great future, but in the present age of international governance and globalization one cannot afford to depend on nationalism and patriotism. The world has become small, we are becoming global citizens. When we dont'get likeminded people in our country we search for them in other regions of the world, nothing wrong in that. So, I feel celebration of freedom is not important. As Munnabai in the film says, ideas of great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi need to be implemented instead of simply celebrating events. Indians were known for their rituals. I found that people worship their leaders. In South India temples have been constructed for the leaders, but their ideas are not respected. The country divided on caste, race, region-basis. Nothing to panic yet, but a day may come when each state can demand autonomy and independence and that day is not far! Indians need to remain awake to the task of nation building. This requires people to work really at the national level. A foreigner cannot imagine the kind of problems that Indians face. The problems of unemployment and poverty need to be addressed. We fail to get medals in Olympics. This clearly shows lack of national pride. We need to give food first to poor people and achieve national prosperity and then think of national pride. It is handful of Indians who really show pride for their nation. The government needs to show the way, for they are the leaders. If they do not show the way who will?