Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow
domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the
dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought
and action--
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
-- Tagore

It has been 60 years since India has woken up into a new found freedom. Woken up to being the largest democracy in the world. Proving wrong the umpteen predictions that such a diverse nation would not survive a democratic rule, a unified rule.

After the painful dismemberment, the death of the Mahatma that raised some uncomfortable questions, the war with China, and then with the sister nation, the emergency, the mandal, the babri masjid and the opening up of the markets for competition on a global scale, India now stands poised to take full advantage of its more-than-a-billion heads and pairs of hands.
The political and bureaucratic machinery willing, we'll get there.

But this is not ignoring the situation elsewhere. The abundance of mere politicians rather than visionaries, the increasing disparity between the rich and the poor, literate and illiterate, and the short-sightedness in core sectors like agriculture may cost us dear.

Nehru's speech could as well have been written yesterday "Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially."

Let's not be complacent. Like Vivekananda said - "Uthishta jagratha praapyavaraan nibodhata!!" (Arise! Awake! Stop not till the goal is reached!).
Let's not stop like the fabled hare. Let's march on like the mighty lumbering elephant. For there are "miles to go before I sleep; and miles to go before I sleep".
Here's to a self-confident and soaring India!

Jai Hind!!