Freedom

 A piece I wrote for English class. :)

Freedom, the word has several dimensions; it means different things to different people. It is a word that one would naturally associate with the freedom struggle, revolutions, movements, rights, speaking up and what not. But freedom, to me, just a simple student of standard 12 is not much a big fuss. For me, freedom is basically doing what I want without being questioned, without being judged, without being dismissed. As every teenager of my age would say, for me it’s about having my own space and liberty. Nevertheless Ruskin Bond’s idea of freedom got me thinking about whether freedom is really something that one needs to insist upon. Personally speaking, I've never had to ask for freedom. Having a chilled out dad helps sometimes. I have, and I consider myself lucky for it, always been given what I want/need without having to ask or insist on it. I have always considered freedom as a thing that changes according to situations. You have to work and wait sometimes and you have to demand sometimes. It’s quite a transient thing. Of course handling it responsibly by being sensitive to other’s feelings is involved no doubt. My idea of freedom revolves around simple aspects of my life that affect me and my moods like having my own room, dressing the way I want, socializing with my choice of people, not having too many rules about going out of the house once in a while, choosing my own career path. Freedom is what lets you define your existence, let’s you take charge of your life’s direction, it sometimes just comes your way or sometimes make you pursue and work for it. I basically want to control my life and want my life to reflect who I am and not be a product of anybody else’s judgement and desires. It’s my life and I want to live it my way.

         

When I first read Ruskin Bond’s thought on freedom being something that one has to often insist upon, it got me thinking. First of all what can I categorize as freedom in my life of 17 years? It’s quite weird you know when you spend nearly 5 years of your life demanding rights of various kinds and now you’re confused about whether to bring those under the spectrum of freedom! After giving it a four hour thought, I came to understand that freedom involves simple things like having the right to argue with your parents when they lay down rules without giving you a proper reason, standing up for your choice of friends when certain people find them ‘lame’, making your choices and living your life the way you want so that it exudes your vibrancy and not the aspirations and expectations of everyone around you. Having my private space is one important part of my idea of freedom. My sense of freedom is having the liberty to make my own choices and not a slave to anyone else’s opinions. Most of the time I have had to demand, as being a girl normal expectations are that a girl must be soft spoken, well behaved and what not. But I like to let my hair down sometimes and have fun. And freedom comes with a whole lot of responsibility. We must be sensitive to others, see if this sort of liberty is worth it in the long run, we have to practically ponder over it like adults, which is the sad part. Freedom though is not something that you always insist on, sometimes one has to persevere and be patient to get rights sometimes or sometimes it may involve both as is the case of our freedom struggle. To sum up, I want to be the one who holds the reins of my existence; I want my life to reflect who I am and what I stand for. I want to be the driver of the chariot of my life.