Tomorrow, when the tricolour rises
against the August morning sky,
let us not merely stand beneath it—
let us ask ourselves why.
Why does a nation that broke its chains
still walk with shackles unseen?
Why does hunger wait outside palaces
while promises glitter on every screen?
Why do the poor still bargain with silence,
why does truth sometimes kneel to gold,
why are the dreams of the young so often
bought, delayed, betrayed, or sold?
We won freedom once
from an empire’s iron hand—
but freedom is more than a date,
more than a flag, a song, a band.
Freedom is the right to question,
the courage to disagree,
the strength to speak
when power is wrong,
and the will to let truth be free.
So let this Independence Day
be more than ceremony and flame.
Let it awaken something within us
that refuses to live in shame.
Let us rise against corruption—
not with hatred, not with rage,
but with a nation’s conscience burning
brighter than the brightest stage.
Let no office become a marketplace,
no public trust a private prize,
no vote become a coin of purchase,
no lie become respectable disguise.
And let us remember:
corruption does not begin
only in grand corridors of power.
It begins whenever conscience whispers,
“Just this once. Just one more favour.”
It grows when we look away,
when we pay to bend the rule,
when we applaud the loudest liar
and call the honest person a fool.
Awaken, India.
Not tomorrow alone.
Not only when the anthem plays.
Awaken in the classroom,
in the courtroom,
in the factory,
in the field,
in the street,
in the home.
Awaken when a politician
speaks of nation but serves himself.
Awaken when a citizen
sells tomorrow for today’s wealth.
Awaken when religion, caste, or fear
is sharpened into a political blade,
and remember that no Indian is lesser
because of the name they were born with,
the language they speak,
or the prayer they have made.
Our flag has three colours
let them teach us how to live:
courage without cruelty,
peace without surrender,
and faith in a future
we are willing to build
Let the saffron ask us to be fearless.
Let the white demand truth.
Let the green remind us
that a nation must grow for every youth.
And let the Ashoka Chakra turn—
twenty-four spokes of motion,
a warning carved into blue:
A nation that stops moving forward
has already betrayed its freedom
We are not merely heirs
to what our ancestors won.
We are guardians of what they dreamed,
and builders of what is yet to come.
So tomorrow, raise the flag—
but raise your standards higher.
Sing the anthem—
but let your conscience sing louder.
Salute the martyrs—
but honour them by refusing
to become prisoners of corruption,
cynicism, division, or fear.
For India will not awaken
because the clock strikes midnight.
India awakens
when we do.
And when a billion hearts
choose courage over convenience,
truth over transaction,
service over power
and country over self.
then, and only then,
will the promise of freedom
truly belong to us.
***
Madras Courier originally ran as a broadsheet with a poetry section. It was a time when readers felt comfortable sharing glimpses of their lives through verse. If you have a poem you’d like to submit, do email us at [email protected].
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