Sixty nine years ago, we freed ourselves from the British. And as we progressed as an independent nation, we continued to shake off other chains that bound us body and mind. This Independence Day, we listed some of the freedoms we’re most happy for, and some shackles we’ll be happy to be rid ofThe azaadis we like...Paperwork and long lines: You may have complained that the fingerprinting made you feel like a criminal, but the Aadhar card has cut out the long wait for ‘police verification’ for your passport, among other things. And e-governance, online banking and e-commerce have cut lines for everything else, from buying groceries to depositing a cheque, to paying your phone bill.
Professional monogamy: Remember your mum, who worked in the same place for 30 years? That’s not how our careers look. Economic and industrial reforms after 1991, and of course LinkedIn and naukri.com, have meant there’s no sticking to one organization for life. Or sticking to one man, with extramarital dating services like Ashley Madison boasting taglines like “Life is short. Have an affair.”
The matchmaking aunty-network: We’ve got our own social network and we’re now free to make our own romantic arrangements, re-arrangements or mis-arrangements.
Obsession with engineering/medicine as career options: ‘Oh, she didn’t do well in Class 10?’ Or ‘Without science there’s no future.’ Even the obnoxious younger cousin would say, ‘You must be dumb if you took commerce’. Choosing economics — or worse, history, was your sure shot to failure. But now one can be a dating guru, a yoga guru or just a talking guru on TV.
Needing “contacts” to be heard: The Right to Information Act, which makes it mandatory for the government to provide data you request, has brought in much-needed accountability in governance. Plus there is the online route: You could just tweet a minister, like the man whose wife lost her passport before their honeymoon, and get the job done.
Common minimum entertainment on Doordarshan: There was DD, the video library, cable TV and finally — finally! — we’ve got on-demand content and Netflix bringing any show, documentary or film to a laptop or phone near you. And while we’re at it, we’re going to add gratitude for freedom from landlines and large phone bills, thanks to VOIP and messaging services. Not to forget app and radio taxis that have liberated us from grumpy auto drivers and rickety kaali peelis. Also waiting months for a clunky Ambassador after paying a ‘premium’, and wearing wind-up HMT watches with scratchy, black straps (yes, we know those have nostalgia value, but really!)
Musty reference books and fat encyclopedias: Flipping through library cards and catalogues, writing down the number of the book you need, walking by dusty shelves to find said book, wading through the index for that one para on the formation of Andhra Pradesh, and finally finding the page and scribbling down the information. We’re free of all that. It’s all online, all instant, on tap, just the right search string away
...And the azaadis we would likeSec 377 and moral policing: We’d like to be attracted to whoever we like, have sex, fall in love and out, and marry or not marry, without the government, khap panchayats, the righteously outraged, cultural supremacists, and the uncle next door wanting a say in it. They’re considered personal liberties for the simple reason — they’re personal.
Sexual harassment and violence, and the culture of impunity: Nirbhaya changed rape laws but there’s a long way to go before mindsets are changed. As the Bulandshahr case has shown, politicians would still rather cook up conspiracy theories than catch the accused.
Discrimination: Gender, caste, religion, region, disability. There are so many ways in which we exclude rather than include people in this country, which has been supposedly free of bondage for 70 years. Time, perhaps, for a rethink on modern forms of oppression?
Snips and bleeps: Censor Board. Its nomenclature alone relegates it to the last century, from where its officials too derive, with their Victorianera ideas of what we should and shouldn’t see. And of course, there’s the long list of books that various governments decide we aren’t ready to read — from The Satanic Verses to, more recently, biographies of saints Tukaram and Dnyaneshwar.
Free-for-all interpretations of history: Textbook revisions have become quick and convenient re-tellings of the past to support a particular agenda. They’re inaccurate, simplistic and sometimes politically ghost-written, making our history more fiction than fact.
Unquestioned entitlement and privilege: Pata nahi mera baap kaun hai? The hubris of entitlement is the reason people try to get away with everything — from drunk driving to rape, or land that job or seat in Parliament. No, you don’t deserve it just because you’re convinced you do. But to dismantle systemic privilege, we first need azadi from caste hierarchies, patriarchy and the entire legacy of inequality the Constitution says it has outlawed.
Jugaad in public works: Corruption and mismanagement mean we not only end up with deadly roads and buckled pavements, but also mega-scams that go on and on and on…
Intrusive data mining and surveillance: Data science and metadata tracking are buzzwords but they’re also ways by which governments keep track of people’s politics, health, sexual orientation, and finances. Privacy activists, including Edward Snowden, say mass surveillance is the way governments will control populations in the future. But the level of intrusion by corporates into our lives probably surpasses (currently, at least) what the government is doing — how else do those running shoes you clicked on once stalk you online till eternity, or till you ‘add to cart’?
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