What freedoms are you looking for?

As the country heads into its 76th year of independence, Metrolife asked a cross section of citizens what freedoms they now aspire for. Here is what they said.

Stay away from our bedrooms

The LGBTQ+ community deserves freedom when it comes to its sexual life and the right to marriage. Marriage shouldn’t be restricted by gender. Also, the government should stay away from our bedrooms. Freedom from the current Indian attitude towards the queer community is important. Also, the marriage system needs to be simplified. It puts women in a tight spot and often takes away their freedom. This needs to change.

— Vasudhendra, Kannada
author and activist

Rid the country of urban ugliness

Irrespective of the current developments in the country, there remains a long list of freedoms India is yet to achieve. We need freedom from poverty, unemployment, casteism, exploitation, destruction of the environment, and basically the ugliness of our urbanscape. 

— Chiranjeevi Singh, former Indian ambassador
to UNESCO

See similarities, not differences

I seek freedom from close-mindedness. In dance, purists want to stick to traditions, almost to the point of ‘pickling’ them, when, in fact, tradition is always evolving. It has to. Art has always responded to changing sociopolitical, psychological changes in society. My mother (Kathak exponent Maya Rao) would say “Today’s innovation, if it stands the test of time, will become tomorrow’s tradition”. If you are open-minded, you see similarities in ideas, not differences, and it allows for assimilation, absorption, and influencing.

— Madhu Nataraj, dancer, choreographer and arts entrepreneur