The Champagne of Freedom

“This power cut is the last straw. I can’t bear the Congress anymore. It has to go”, shrieks Tia. “Tell me about it. Future super power, my ass. Inflation! Declining growth rate. So many corruption scams. And, now this. Give other parties a chance, will you? It’s as if the Congress is judging us for giving them a second term. Sonia Gandhi is probably having a cocktail party up there in the Parliament House with Manmohan and Chidambaram and laughing at us, calling us ‘gullible shits”, spews Alisha.

 

“Yeah, I don’t see people being held accountable for their actions. There are more scams than the people being punished. We are totally at the mercy of our government.”

 

“Who-ever called this a free country? The British very humbly handed us over to these politicians. It was their final trickery. The Queen is probably up there dancing in her castle donning our diamond crown and having a cocktail party alongside an Olympic pool with Michael Phelps and laughing at us, calling us—” “GULLIBLE shits, I know! ‘Enough with your cocktail parties.”

 

Tia leaves the room.

 

Sabitri Bhuiyan, a woman I have created to enrich my thesis, is now ninety-one years old, knows very well that this is an independent country. She can hardly utter a syllable due to her dysarthria but can very well smile at the ‘innocent’ conversations made by the herd of her progeny. She is in the advanced stages of the Parkinson’s disease and doctors have said that it could take her any moment – this was about seven years ago; her will to live is strong. Due to her condition, she is more-often-than-not used as an inactive sounding board or worse yet, she is completely ignored. She could swear that people have had long intimate conversations in the room without having noticed her. She does not mind the insults, instead considers this an interesting past time; she believes that she has done enough and this is her time to sit back and observe the world she has contributed to so much. She is a remnant of the great Indian freedom struggle.

 

Her great granddaughter, Tia, just out of college, is full of energy. She says she wants to change the world. She, along with her good friend, Alisha, has come to visit her ‘oldest dida’, who lives in Hijli, ‘to get some inspiration’, she explains. She realizes that her dida was born in the ‘uglier’ part of the century. She knows she cannot have a heart-to-heart with dida, but being around her makes her feel connected to the great Indian heritage which she is so proud of. Sabitri likes to have the young ones around, especially Tia; she sees herself in her. Tia, like her dida, wants to do great things for her country.

 

Sabitri, listening to their conversations, muses, “This is definitely a free country, dear. I had given my heart and soul to the freedom movement. I’ve seen the slavery. I’ve seen the bloodshed. This is definitely better.”

 

Twilight entering through the window, Sabitri is sitting in a well-cushioned chair near the window, Alisha is sitting on the floor in front of her. Tia enters the room with a bottle of champagne and two wine glasses. She settles down beside Alisha and starts pouring into the glasses. She lifts one and offers it to dida. Sabitri barely mumbles a ‘no’. Tia sneers and hands the glass to Alisha. “I found this in dada’s cupboard. It was in a shelf labelled ‘brewed on the 15th of August, 1947’. He has a dozen of these. Strange, isn’t it?”

 

Tia’s grandfather, Late Admiral Prosenjit Bhuiyan was among the very few naval air-pilots in his time and was sent to France for his pilot training in 1970. He received the bottles of wine as a reward for his exceptional achievement as an ace pilot. He thought that they were something to treasure, since they represented something more than just his achievement. Sabitri was always fond of her first born; she had gone through a lot to protect Prosenjit from the perils of the wounded country.

 

Sabitri would have punished her sons and daughters for drinking in front of her at the age of 22, but Tia was her sweetheart. In fact, she is amusingly observing the girls having the time of their lives.

 

“Cheers! To our graduation”, cheers Alisha,

 

“Cheers to freedom”, adds Tia, the label clearly on her mind, “and cheers to this wonderful evening that has befallen us.” The glasses clink and each takes a sip.

 

“Mm, this is good.”

 

“This is definitely good wine”, Tia acknowledges.

 

After a while, when the wine starts to sink in, Alisha begins, “We are free, aren’t we? Tomorrow, I don’t have to worry about being thrown out of the train by my own people ordered by some foreigner, when travelling in any class of the train.”

 

“Once you are able to get the ticket, that is”, quips Tia, the wine making its way in her too. She takes another sip and mentions, “Millions of Indians died in famines due to the negligent behaviour of the government, during the British regime. Now famines are not as big a threat, although they do occur, putting the ‘self-sufficient in food’ image of our country to shame. Nonetheless, our condition is way better.”

 

“Yeah, while corruption leads to a great loss to the Treasury in a country with so many poor, about most legal sources of income to the government, then, added to the British treasury. Corruption only worsened the matter. We got robbed both legally and illegally. We are definitely faring better.”

 

“Also, did you know that Indian culture and heritage had no standing in the government? They were not taught in English schools, which only the ‘privileged’ few had access to. Moreover, these Indians prided themselves for this, looking down upon our own people. They were the ‘Indian in body, British in mind’ puppets of the British. Ironically, now even when the government actively, though poorly, promotes Indian heritage and culture through education and what-not means, the Indians seem to have more affinity for the western culture. On the other hand, we would have lost our identity if the British had continued ruling us”, explained Tia, her knowledge about the Indian history creeping back.

 

Sabitri keeps smiling, amazed at the analysis done by the girls, her pride in Tia only increasing.

 

Alisha, now two glasses down, continues, “It is difficult to imagine India being ruled by foreigners. Although, that wouldn’t have been so bad. Some say, the British did more good than bad. You know, with abolishing sati, bringing in technology and civilization. The institution of the ‘government’ was given to us by them. The British was the only reason the different kingdoms came under one name. Ironically, it is the India united and identified by them for which we had our freedom struggle. Adding to the irony, it is the same India that they united, but were later compelled to part on the grounds of precluding a civil war among the two big religions.”

 

Tia, sufficiently inebriated now, comments, “You know, if irony was made of lemons, we would be having a lot of lemonades right now.” Alisha quickly replies, “You are so drunk right now. HIC! I am so drunk. Excuse me, please”, stretching the ‘please’; her hiccups acting up.

 

Alisha gets up and leaves the room for water. Tia turns towards Sabitri who is clearly enjoying the show. “Dida, it must have been a difficult time, isn’t it? ‘Now’ must look like spring after a very cold winter.” Sabitri smiles, musing, “Definitely, my dear.” Tia looks outside the window, it was dark now. Only a distant light from a lamp just outside illuminated the room. She gets up and turns on the dim-lights to maintain the ambience in the room.

 

After a while, Alisha comes in with a platter full of fried fish bits. She adds, “The maid made these fried ‘rui”, putting the plate on a table near the chair. The bits did not have the skeleton so Sabitri could easily swallow them. Tia, now excited, exclaims, “Food, great!” They settle down near the table, both utterly drunk.

 

Tia continues, “Talking about the pros of the British, freedom was too big an incentive to declare it more good than bad. There is no way to evaluate how they fared, actually, it doesn’t matter because our need for freedom was inevitable. You can also say that the British left because their loss in the War was too huge to maintain their rule over the ‘colonies’ and that the Indian freedom struggle was futile. But, obviously, you would be wrong. The freedom struggle and the martyrdom of our people meant more than just compelling the British to leave. They fought for an ideal of an independent India that we now have. And it is the baton of this independent India that we have to carry forward improving it at every stage.”

 

Alisha notes, “Today, we are able to identify and tackle so many problems. Technology has definitely been fundamental at improving the conditions today. We have come so far. We can, one day, be a developed nation and eventually a super power.”

 

Tia, suddenly jumps up, clenching her fist, almost having a revelation of some sorts, she announces, “We need to forget about this freedom struggle. We need to learn to take freedom for granted, because it is our birth right. It’s true that the value of freedom was raised by the blood of our martyrs and we need to remember them, but the crisis in our country should not be dignified by proclaiming that we’ve had worse. We need to face the problems head on. It is time to let go. It is time to move on.” Alisha agrees, “You are on to something there. This masquerade must stop. By the way, did you realize that this champagne will be 65 years old this 15th.”

 

Tia continues, “Yeah, we are drinking a 65 years old champagne. If it were up to dada, he would have kept it tucked away for eternity. It fulfilled his wishes, but now it is in my hands and I decide what to do with it. This champagne is meant to be drunk. So let’s drink. Let’s drink to this freedom, which has brought us to this beautiful evening.” Alisha empties the bottle in the two glasses. They raise their glasses for their final toast, both on their feet, excited.

 

Alisha announces, “Here’s to 65 years of independence”, Tia screams, “And to this champagne of freedom”. Both gulp down their final drinks.