I was at the world war II memorial in London the other day and came across these words “… gave their lives for the freedom of the world …”. The irony of the statement wouldn’t strike everybody, but being that I am from a former colony of the British Empire, it was an eye opener. This statement was made when numerous countries including mine was under the oppressive English hands.

Does freedom only belong to a select few individuals? Or does it only belong to the people that the media says it belongs too? In this day and age when everything gets a sense of legitimacy by using the word freedom, it is imperative on us to consider the broader picture and not confine our self to our narrow world view.

The Indians and the Nigerians and the Ugandans and the countless others British colonies deserved their freedom as much as the British or the french deserved from the Germans. Maybe the days of “Dogs and Indians not allowed” are like water under the bridge but it is still trying to repeat it in different fashions! And history be damned there are always enough snoots around to spoil the broth for us.

So people might think that I am just joining the rhetoric of bashing the British of yesteryear but then you are not in my shoes. Sometimes my blood just boils over when I hear of the hypocrisies of “freedom loving” “democratic” countries which try to take the glory for all the world’s good and nothing of the blame for it’s evil.

The English bashing probably is because of my first trip there and the sight of the Kohinoor diamond on the queen’s crown, instead of being in the hands of an Indian. That being said no freedom is ‘freedom’ until it belongs to everybody. There is no clause to withhold it from a few or from the dis-advantaged.

On a personal note the pictures are available on my diary