I try to be my own person.

But my person is everyone I meet and everything I see. It is a chaotic medley of all the things I hear, the foods I taste, the words that roll off my tongue with practised ease.

My person is calm on some days and frantic on others. It carefully weighs things sometimes, and other times it is an impulsive, headstrong bunch of emotions.

My thoughts are clouded by the thoughts of others. My opinions try and stand their ground but they sit back and take in whatever opinions are flung its way.

I am not independent of everything around me.

I try and be my own person most of the time, but if you look closely you’ll see several shades soaking through. Like painting the sea with multiple shades just to make it appear the way you’d like it to.

Free!

Tomorrow, as the country will be draped in saffron and green and little children will run around holding little paper flags, we will roll over and be grateful for the holiday. And grateful for freedom of course.

The people here have been chirpier and gleeful. They looked thrilled yesterday, even though it was a Monday. Today, the cafeteria had an Independence Day special menu which involved tri-coloured food – most of which gave me a bad throat from the artificial food colouring. The walls of the cafeteria were plastered with tiny flags which, because of the table fans and AC vents, made a harsh flapping sound. The people who served us food were wearing little badges saying “I love India.”

After lunch, when we stepped out, they handed us little fliers about the country’s independence movement. The little write up was extracted from some History text book. They said “Happy Independence Day” to us, in a practised, bored voice.

The holiday feeling is delicious, like two Sundays in a week. You know, because we don’t get Saturdays off. This is the closest we’ll come to experiencing a 5 day week.