Our fellow citizens of India landed their feet on a land independent of the British colonial rule on the 15th of August 1947. The freedom and the reuniting of our Indian identity and dignity were the fruit of blood, sweat and tears that our freedom fighters sacrificed to lead us to their aspiration of “Swatantra Bharat”. It is a magnificent coincidence that we achieved our freedom in August, a symbol of dignity and grandeur.

Though we enjoy this fruit of freedom on our motherland and wave our national flag every 15^th of August, do we understand the inherent weight this day possesses? This day is plagued with generational trauma; From the partition to the massacre of thousands of Indians, we can never circumvent confronting the truth that this day is a reminder of the pain and suffering that our parents, our grandparents endured through, for our generation to enjoy the liberty, equality and fraternity.

Regardless of the upheaval across generations, we, as humans, always find ways to hurt each other by building walls of divisions among us through communal unrest, gender discrimination, socio-economic suppression and much more.

We should seek this and every Independence day as an opportunity to acknowledge the privilege of living in a free, democratic country and must work on rekindling the true Indian spirit of unity through efforts to overcome divisions.

At PVR NEST, we’ve worked on mitigating the divisions which hinder the unity among us. Our care and protection programmes aim to build a safe and inclusive society where everyone is valued, and no one is left behind. We have built access to safe urban spaces for women and children so they feel valued and empowered. We also put our earnest efforts into building opportunities for people from socially disadvantaged communities to support them in leading a sustainable, dignity-rich life.

On this 75^th Independence day, we must pledge and strive to build opportunities for one another, to support each other in reaching that goal of unity. This will be a way for us to achieve the aspirations of our freedom fighters and will help us understand the genuine feeling of Independence. Freedom for all!

Happy Independence day. #Azadhaihum.

Deepa Menon,
Senior Vice President (Corp. Com) and Founder -PVR NEST, the CSR arm of PVR Limited.