Are we really allowed to live our lives our own way?

We live in the world’s largest democracy(India) but I often wonder that are we being allowed to live our lives our own way in this country? The answer that comes to my mind is a starightforward ‘NO’.

Now my argument has 2 aspects. One legal and one moral. Let me talk about the moral one first. This is based on what the society and the public expects of us. They, in a way, force us become doctors or engineers when we might not be interested in these professions. If we don’t take either of these professions , we are regarded as a failure. They control our personal lives. They tell us what to do and what not to. If you want to go out with your friends which might involve both girls and boys, they start judging us. They regard us as shameless and a disgrace to our families . If we don’t want to celebrate some traditional festival and if we go against an old meaningless tradition , we are considered to be as someone who goes against his/her own culture and are condemned to no ends. If we get good grades, we are thought to be a nerd. If we don’t, we are thought to be a spoilt child.They decide how much we should learn. If we want to stay at home minding our own business, they regard us as an anti-social person. They decide how much time we get to stay out from our home. They decide our religion. They say, ” You have to follow the religion you are born into as it is a sin to change your religion”. You are thought to be a rebel if you get a tattoo. They decide how much affection you can show to people in public. It is they who decide what type of clothes you wear. You aren’t even allowed to choose whom you want to marry. “Leave it up to your parents and relatives.They know what’s best for you”. As if anyone know a person better than he knows himself. So the conclusion is that it is ‘they’ who control our social and personal life in this country.(“They” refers to the typical society) But I would like to mention that all these prejudices are changing slowly. But we still have a long way to go

Coming to the legal part, 3 of our states have banned alcohol for its citizens except for medicinal purposes. I am personally against the consumption of alcohol but according to me, every citizen has the right to decide if he wants to consume alcohol for it doesn’t have very harmful effects if taken in light amounts. The content that we might be creating in the form of movies, books, magazines etc is censored in such a way that it loses all its meaning. I myself fear writing blogs on certain topics due the growing hooliganism in our country. All these example show we aren’t being provided the rights we are entitled to in a true democracy. However I do agree that extensive rights given to us constitutionally are unparalleled and India is indeed amongst one of the most successful democracies despite the issues we face today.

I hope you will give a thought to my thoughts.

Over and Out.