its been a long time i was toying with the idea of being free…. free to do what i want… free to be where i want…. free to think what i want…. not be bothered with what, how, when , where, who, why….. just be free…. while these thoughts where playing a havoc in my mind i came across this writing prompt …. freedom and what it meant to me…

Freedom  the meaning of this word is The condition of being free of restraints, especially the ability to act without control or interference by another or by circumstance …. funny when i tried applying this meaning to anything in my life or the history that i have read or to the ideas that i have grown with …. it just didnt fit

for instance… yesterday we celebrated independence day and the same old pattern of remembering the dead ( people who died fighting for freedom) and honoring their work was repeated… when i tried applying the above mentioned meaning to it i found it didnt apply…. when we thought we gained freedom from british raj all that had happened was change of ownership from the brit governance to bunch of guys who were still alive….. took over the country…. i am sure they worked hard to gain this change of ownership…. and put their heart into building the country …. but then their were millions others who had fought for the same purpose…. who had laid their life for the change of ownership…. hoping for the better tomorrow…. what happened after the ownership change is history …… the meaning doesnt apply ….. being free of restraints, ability to act without control or interference by another or circumstances….well 69 years post change of ownership…. circumstances and individuals have ruled the act…..

having looked into the bigger picture i thought it was time that i should first check if the meaning applies to my life …..and so i looked back…. being free to my understanding is a myth…. we cannot be free… our minds have been trained to exercise restrain in all aspects of life ….. from the basic eating patterns to choosing life partners to making babies to choosing the way you want to live… often the restraints are put by parents, society, schools and the rules that we live our life with …. like the religion or the ethnic group we belong to and so on….

when i was studying being free meant no homework, no restrictions on playing time, no restrictions on kind of friends i can have, the food i can eat, the clothes i can wear, the way i wanted to talk and so on…..

when i grew up and started working… the freedom meant …. doing things i wanted, dating guy i wanted to, shopping when and where i wanted, drinking as much as i wanted, and so on

now that i am married and mother of two with a dog at home … freedom means nothing more than an hour or so to write something or read something or as simple as sit in trance without having to answer any unnecessary questions ………

so the conclusion freedom is a relative term we attach to the things we want to enjoy from time to time however if we see the whole picture freedom tends to seem like a myth…. coz the thing that we term as act of freedom is always governed by something, someone, or circumstances that have kept us from enjoying the pleasure of the act that we now term as free will …. that we seek under the blanket of freedom……………

think think think think think…………..