Today is the 72nd Republic Day of India. Today is the day when we celebrate the Constitution of India. But while we remember history, do we also see the history that we are creating? I woke up today with thoughts taking the shape of a maze in my head. If I have to be brutally honest to myself, I don’t know whether I am patriotic. I don’t know whether I am a worthy citizen of my land. I don’t know whether my bit is enough. I just know one thing that if there is someone who gives me hope in tumultuous times, it’s the children of India. Their honesty, intuitiveness, unbiased opinions and inherent empathy makes me feel assured and optimistic. But the irony is that we never fail to let them down every single day. Every time we push a child to be what the child is not, every time we silence their pragmatic voices with our adult egos, every time we invalidate their feelings due to our myopia – every such time we crush hope, we crush dreams, we crush spirits.

We can do all that it may take to transform ourselves and the world around, but we don’t realise that if this doesn’t translate to the next generation, we aren’t really breaking the cycle. Recently, a high court judge gave the benefit of doubt to a perpetrator of a ghastly crime who groped the breasts of a 12-year-old because the clothes were not removed. That this judgement is ludicrous and the thoughts extremely disturbing is something that has been shared and talked about everywhere on media. But what really broke my heart is how disrespectful were the words of the judge to the child who was the victim of the pervert. If this is how those in honourable positions respond to the pleas of children, then we are doomed and won’t be able to ever come out from the deep dark pit. Yes, there was no skin to skin. Because the hands that should have protected chose to pierce through the skin and hurt the soul of the child who would probably be scarred for life while the criminal will be roaming around scot free after a year.

This republic day, I cannot stop thinking about what we are giving to our children.  We all have grime to scour. I want to take a pause today and reflect. What am I doing to make my country what it deserves to be? What am I doing to change my own self? And most importantly, what am I doing to ensure no child has to ever bear the brunt of our baggages and vices? I am answerable. You are answerable.