Following is gist of my 5 minute speech given on occasion of Independence day celebrations while I was in India.
- Do your part. Freedom comes with a responsibility to do your part. Narrated a story to illustrate this point
- NRI perspective
- Celebrating independence abroad as best as possible. Get together or parades to mark the occasion.
- there is a desire to contribute back to nation and majority engage in non-profit work with passion,
- there is a responsibility to clear misconceptions about India and Indian culture. Illustrated misconceptions with an example of how ‘being vegetarian’ is highly misunderstood. Use your ‘human’ ability to rationalize when it comes to understanding misconceptions about any country. Believe only what you see and not hearsay and interpretations
- We only realize value of something when we lose it. Illustrated this with a point that majority of us cannot imagine what life was like before TV, Internet and cell phones. We have taken a few things for granted. Do imagine what it means to be when someone occupies your house if you don’t understand value of freedom.
- Don’t celebrate mechanically. Illustrated the importance of rationalizing with another story.
- Be proud of: Rich history of India. Don’t forget it.
Ended the speech reiterating the points. I was happy to be given an opportunity to talk and it was new experience to me.
