We proudly call ourselves Indians, Independent Indians to be frank. Thanks to our great freedom fighters and their indomitable love and dedication which got us our Independence. Yet, there are few things about Indian Independence day that Indians don’t know about but they should know. (Thank me later :P)
But, thanks to Mr. Mountbatten, we Indians share our Independence Day with few of our neighboring countries like North Korea, South Korea, Bahrain and Republic of the Congo. Just the situation my parents always want, one cake and many celebrations (the one bow and 2 goals thing)(Pun intended).
Look at the good side; we are celebrating the day of our freedom with these beautiful countries.
(The perfect moment for Facebook addicts who are obsessed with tagging others with no reason, their next post after reading this article: “Celebrating Independence Day” -with North Korea, South Korea, and two others…. :p)
So, it wasn’t anybody’s fault, we had no National Anthem at that time. Only if there was one, I would have loved to get a glimpse of the Independent Indians standing and in one voice singing the National Anthem. Believe me, which would have been really sung from the heart, Indians using their first breath of Independence for singing ‘Jana Gana Mana….’
But no grievance at all for what we missed, the happiness to have what we achieved thanks to our freedom fighters is more compelling.
Thank god Indian army did so or else I would have been applying for a visa right now (pun intended).
1. Indian Independence day was chosen deliberately to fall on 15th August
Yeah, don’t clean your glasses you read that right. Just when I thought only people from my family are mad about doing things at the right moment, on a particular date, I accidentally read this. Can you guess who chose the date? Don’t make efforts; in this case, it was none other than Lord Mountbatten (the last governor-general of India). He deliberately chose 15th August as the date for Indian Independence day. His reason for this was that 15th August marks the second anniversary of Japan’s surrender to the allied forces (called as United Nations after the declaration made on 1st January 1942) at the time of devastating World War II.
Look at the good side; we are celebrating the day of our freedom with these beautiful countries.
(The perfect moment for Facebook addicts who are obsessed with tagging others with no reason, their next post after reading this article: “Celebrating Independence Day” -with North Korea, South Korea, and two others…. :p)
2. We sang NO National Anthem on our Independence Day
Again, your eyes are doing fine dear, you read it right, again! The National Anthem that we respect so much that the Indian government made it compulsory to be included even in theatres before any movie, was not sung on our first independence day. The Bengali invocation of Jana Gana Mana was written in 1911, though “Jana Gana Mana….” was first sung Calcutta at the session of the Indian National Congress, on 27 December 1911. But unfortunately, it was adopted as Indian National Anthem on 24th January, 1950.
But no grievance at all for what we missed, the happiness to have what we achieved thanks to our freedom fighters is more compelling.
3. Just after Independence Indian troops invaded Portugal to annex Goa back in India
Out of all the facts above, you will thank me for sharing this. Okay, so the Indian state Goa, which is also the dream destination of every young Indian guy, is an Indian state thanks to the brave Indian army. After Indian Independence Portugal amended its constitution and declared Goa, our beloved paradise Goa, to be a part of Portugal. But soon our Indian army responded to their action and invaded Goa on 19th December, 1961 and annexed Goa back into India.
Written by Vatsa