India - Independence Day

On the occasion of India's 59th celebration of independence from the British, although I echo Charles de Montesquieu's thoughts (mutatis mutandis) when he said “If I knew something that would serve my country but would harm mankind, I would never reveal it; for I am a citizen of humanity first and by necessity, and a citizen of France second, and only by accident”, let me first indulge in a little bit of nationalistic show-n-tell...

Although I couldn't find the famous video from the 1980s online, here is a link to the Mile Sur Mera Tumhara video made up some years ago by MIT (Cambridge, US) students.

And here is one from the University of Idaho, one from University of Texas at Arlington, another from Twente, Netherlands, and one from Old Dominion University, Norfolk

And now time for some tough questions for this day...

Independence Day but where is the freedom asks The Bangalore Torpedo, questioning how "free" we are.

Give us freedom, not flags - a blogpost by Amit Varma, who blogs at India Uncut.

Also read these older posts by Amit, where he expounds further on the theme:
Waiting for the free-market Mahatma | Freedom vs Sovereignty | The Myth of India's Liberalization

Amit also had written an article in one of his 'favourite online magazines', TCS Daily, titled Transforming India's Mental Landscape

And even the Prime Minister lectured the nation, as it turns 59, on India's failings

Speaking of the PM, read this blogpost -Manmohan Singh's Surprise
It is too soon to tell whether Manmohan Singh's robust and elegant defence of the Indo-US nuclear deal in last Thursday's debate in the Rajya Sabha marks a turning point in his prime ministerial tenure. Nonetheless, his impassioned address before the Upper House is an event of some significance. Perhaps not since Atal Behari Vajpayee's fiery parthian volley during the no-confidence motion that stymied his thirteen day government in 1996 has any other prime ministerial speech induced an equal sympathy.