Ask anyone from the next generation about freedom, they will not quote the Constitution to give a propah definition of the term. They belong to the era where they did not have to ‘struggle for freedom. They are born free.

However, scratch the surface and you will notice the confusion. “How do you define freedom, da,” asks a bewildered Sumana, a PU student from a City college. Have you ever felt you are not as free as you thought you are, we ask. And she blurts out, “Ya! Mom won’t let me have a tattoo on my… er…butt.”

That, according to her, is a gross violation of freedom. Freedom of expression is a totally different concept altogether. Taslima Nasreen can probably answer that well. Freedom, say the over-cautious ones, does not come without a price.

Why, even Gandhi said: “I value individual freedom, but you must not forget that man is essentially a social being... Unrestricted individualism is the law of the beast of the jungle. We have to learn to strike a mean between individual freedom and social restraint. Willing submission to social restraint for the sake of the well-being of the whole society enriches both the individual and the society of which one is a member.”
What’s the price?

Freedom means free will. Of speech, of thought, of action, of choice, and to be able to exercise one’s rights and privileges. It is also the absence of restraint.

Gandhi also realised that there is price for freedom: “Whether we are one or many, we must refuse to purchase freedom at the cost of our self-respect or our cherished convictions. I have known even little children become unbending when an attempt has been made to cross their declared purpose, be it ever so flimsy in the estimation of their parents.”

How do we apply this to our lives in today’s world? Says Surekha, an artist, “Freedom for me means to do what I want to do 'creatively' and metamorphosing every available space for a 'creative' cause. Experiencing my life according to my terms is what art has taught me to do; and it is through visual culture that freedom has come to me, because 'total freedom' in real life is always an utopian ideology. Freedom for me is to achieve, not acquire and to live not according to the demand of the world but according to my perception of the world.”

For actress Ramya, “Freedom would be the freedom of the mind, and we can achieve ultimate happiness only through freedom. It is when the mind is free of fear and can take hardships in its stride.  It is also very important not to misuse freedom since once lost, cannot be obtained again. We are born free with freedom as a gift... we must know its value and retain it.”

“What Tagore said about the mind being without fear and the head held high is particularly evocative of freedom in these paranoid times. To me freedom is about the simplest of things — to love deeply, to know one's loved ones are safe, to express one's opinion, to make choices, to have a wide range of experience. The extras would be to laugh, to sing, to dance,” says Kirtana Kumar, dancer, theatreperson, activist. 

Priyank Kharge, a young politician in the making says, “It is very difficult to define freedom though we have it and flaunt it. We tend to take it for granted. Freedom to do what you want to and speak what you think and not being alienated from thoughts, without having a fear of somebody laughing at you is also freedom of the mind.

Our basic rights of speech, thought, religion, language are all our expressions of freedom. About what India’s freedom means to me, well… I get goosebumps every time I hoist a flag or listen to our national anthem. It’s a special sense of pride.”

Uma Rao, a Kannada writer, says, “Freedom to me means to live as I wish, not at anyone else’s cost.”
Define it in any way you wish, but value freedom, for it’s the free mind that creates stronger personalities, who can in turn create stronger societies. That is probably the need today in a nation celebrating six decades of freedom it fought for.