When I was a kid eating my ice cream in school on Independence day, I would wonder if August 15th meant anything to Britain at all. Did they think of it as a Black Day? Were they terribly unhappy to leave?

I also wondered why we weren't commemorating the days when India annexed the French and Portuguese colonies as well. That could have meant some more ice cream for us... maybe in a flavor that was not vanilla!

I would then start considering all the princely states in the subcontinent that were never annexed or conquered by European colonial powers. They were hundreds of them that quickly became integrated into India in a matter of days (or months or years) after Independence.

If we saw those annexations as historic victories, that could have meant hundreds of ice creams for me almost every day of the year! But what would they (or we) have celebrated? Happy Integration Day or Happy Annexation Day? Were they happy to be integrated or annexed? I thought it wouldn't have hurt to consider these very important questions while eating those ice creams.

There was also the formation of language states to consider. We got ice cream for AP formation day on November 1st. But, we didn't really celebrate the accession of hyderabad into the Indian union... which was such a big deal and very ice cream worthy!

I never really understood this importance of Independence day beyond the ice cream. The map was full of places negotiating their freedom or loyalty. Several states seemed not to want to really belong to the country and had their own independence movements . But the schools even in those states hoisted flags and celebrated freedom like everywhere else. So I suppose they chose to contemplate freedom and loyalty over ice cream just like me.

When I was in class 5, my granddad casually pointed to me that the India map in my social studies text book was wrong. It included disputed territories (like Aksai Chin, parts of Arunachal Pradesh), northern area of Kashmir that was controlled by Pakistan and so on. He wished there were boundaries of indian-claim and foreign-claim to teach us what was happening in our country. I agreed (more strongly that he would have liked!)

The next day, I went to school and wrote on the exam paper that "This map is wrong" and walked out of class! When my dad was summoned in school, he was shocked to see a zero on my answer sheet... my teacher looked wounded, and they just stood there staring at me with this aggravated expression that bordered between violent and not knowing what to do. My dad then mustered some words out of his mouth and requested the teacher to let me write the exam again... and she did...and i wrote it that very day... and excelled in it :)

From then on, all was good! I never understood what I did wrong and wouldn't dare ask my dad. So I resigned to the fact that Independence was more a state of mind or sometimes a state of denial (that there is no independence). But, why did I care? I shouldn't have mattered as long as I was getting my ice cream!

I still think it doesn't matter as long as I am getting my ice cream. Only, now when I am done eating (like right this very minute), I am amazed at the peaceful unity we managed in our country in spite of the odds :) I am thinking to myself... what a fascinating country we are...so flawed and yet so wonderfully perfect!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ... ?...


for?


come on...


There's only one right answer and it is not a rhyming word that means India or Independence...


I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream! :)