ARE WE REALLY INDEPENDENT?

I was thinking about myself as to who am I? When I self internalized I found that like every individual I am a person who loves independence. But when I actually looked outside I found that this independence is no where. The one question that came to my mind was even after 50 years of independence are we really Independent? When I was born that time I was under the guidance of parents and was totally dependent on them. They influenced me as to what I am today. When I grew up and went to school I was bounded by the rules and regulations. This was same even for the college. At every point of time I remember the quote “Man is born free but lives in chains”. That time people used to say all this would be helpful in me becoming a good person and once I become an adult I will be free and can live my life independently. On my 18th birthday I was very excited that now I will be independent and will make a new world of my own. I will be independent and can take my decisions independently. Was this really possible? Soon my dreams were dashed to the ground. I found the society was very conservative. In reality it was not at all independent. Whenever I wanted to do anything the fear as to how the society will perceive it came to my mind. Every action or decision was bounded by the perception of the society. It was surrounded by corruption and corrupt politicians. Bribery was the order of the day. People were killing each other for no reason. The crime rates had increased and people were no longer feeling safe. People were ready to sell their families for money. Where ever I looked I only saw blood and more blood. Though people used to say that the Country is free from slavery but still it existed in different forms. Out of which the problem of child labor was very severe. Children were abused and were forced to beg. The society was also facing the problem of unemployment. People were dying out of hunger as they were not able to earn themselves 2 meals per day. Women were not treated properly, they were not considered at par with men. A society cannot accept a working woman. The reason for all this was lack of proper education. The bribery was still in existence for which many lives were also lost. We all knew that dowry is bad but still people accepted and gave it. We call ourselves independent and educated, then why can’t we break this conservatism. Everyone was leaving 2 lives because of which they think something else but did the opposite. Seeing all this I asked myself a question was this independence that I was looking for? Was this the independence for which the freedom fighters gave their lives? Even after 50 years of independent are we really independent?