India Behind The Lens (News Centre)

Today, i.e. 23 March, is a day which means a lot for many of us and may START meaning a lot for those who will be able to understand the feelings behind this article. It was on this day in 1931 that Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru, chose to be "IMMORTALS" forever.

Every time these names come to our minds, we are left wondering about their single mindedness, zeal and determination when it came to opposing the foreign presence on our soil. Their remarkable fearlessness, when despite being almost resourceless , they took on the mammoth British Empire. And their acts stand out because of the clarity of vision and maturity they exhibited, which is evident from the fact that their actions were not about anger or outbursts, but well thought out strategies.  When we ponder over the happenings from the day they were sentenced to death to the day of their execution on 23 March 1931 at Lahore, it’s clearly evident that they had foreseen every step that the British Government will take to "silence" them, and they "manipulated" the system into doing just opposite of what Government intended to do, by using the courtyard proceedings to convey their thoughts to the nation, isn’t it obvious when we see the names of these great Martyrs remembered by the nation even after so many years?

Nowadays when we talk about Youth power and youth ICONS and a number of names and personalities come to our minds, but sadly these martyrs, though respected and adored, RARELY make it to that list!  How much ever we refute this, it remains a fact that the "general" thoughts and discussions about these martyrs "generally" revolve around GUNS and BOMBS, and go little beyond that. These discourses rarely go in the realm of their relevance in present scenario. And this doesn’t surprise considering the obvious disdain for such ideologies on the part of those in polity or administration, who are guided more by the sense of just "running things" than a selfless love for nation. Such forces/institutions will go to any extent to erase their names and deeds from our "HISTORY", and in a situation when erasing their names could not be achieved, sustained efforts will b directed towards painting them as "Terrorists". And I am sure all of you remember our Martyrs being called "TERRORISTS" by many "eminent" political personalities. The onus is on US to "understand" what they really stood for, and propagate that between people who are not that much aware of them.

If we look beyond the ‘aura’ that surrounds these Martyrs and the general "perceptions" about them, we could clearly see that they were ORDINARY people, just like us – BUT they rose to the occasion when LIFE presented them with a choice to take the "easier" way of living for BHARAT or pursuing a life centered around  "personal" gains and achievements. These people were same in every aspect EXCEPT when it comes to "weighing" pros and cons when it came to taking on WHATEVER ailed our nation, and unlike most of us, there was NO WEIGHING. And despite this, all the actions were guided and pursued with an unmatched zeal that leaves us amazed at the MATURITY that they displayed, while they were still so young!

Shouldn’t these traits make them obvious "choice" as YOUTH ICONS?? Because with that kind of zeal and grit, it would not be impossible to cross any barriers, reach any milestones or achieve ANY GOALS, with that kind of clarity and VISION, the word "confusion" will be purged from our minds. And once a LOT of start waking up to OUR OWN potential, zeal and the grit that we always HIDE inside us, nothing would be able stop us from taking Bharat to the heights of GLORY and progress, which have become NOTHING but hyped decorative words making it to most of the "speeches" with total disconnect between actions and thoughts that guide them.   

On this auspicious day, let’s together take a vow that all our thoughts, all our actions will be guided by boundless love for BHARAT, and we won’t hesitate to give up ANYTHING when we are faced with THE CALL, that differentiates LEGENDS!
 
Jai Bharat, Vande Mataram

Shailesh Pandey | Follow the writer on twitter.com/shaileshkpandey