Media both print as well as small screen have been presenting some real good materials on occasion of India getting 60 (old or young?) on August 15, 2007. With so many channels vying with each other, it is impossible for anyone to track down all good programmes.

So far print media is concerned, I have come across at least four magazines with special issues on the occasion that has kept me engaged for last few days. I shall like to share some in a little detail.

Outlook’s I-day special- ‘India at 60’ is majestic. It has many features, but the former president, APJ Abdul Kalam’s article ‘Three homilies and a lesson’ and Munir Kadri’s eyewitness feature, ‘There were a million revelers that night’ just thrilled me. Other important contributors are Edward Luce, Pankaj Mishra, Ian Jack, and the oldman Khuswant Singh

‘India Today’ theme, What Unites India, for the special Independence Day issue is worth pondering and exciting for every citizen of this most populous democracy of the world. What is that makes India a model to be emulated? Patrick French, the author of Liberty or Death; India’s journey to Independence and Division; Mark Tully, former BBC bureau chief; Manil Suri, a mathematics professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimre County; Dipankar Gupta, professor at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, JNU; Fali S. Nariman, Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court of India; and a galaxy of prominent personalities have tried to come to some inferences based on history, tolerance, democracy, constitution, nationalism, culture, and even cricket and cinema. And ultimately, I conclude that it is just divine will that India has remained united.

Outlook Business’s special issue has carried out a stocktaking of the last 60 years with business leaders, and their vision for the next 10 years in India Inc (1947-2017).

Business World’s ‘State Of The Nation’ has covered different sectors of booming economy. I loved a portion from A Place In The Sun that is as follows:
“Today, this country stands a stronger, richer, fairer, healthier, more accomplished nation. For the first time in centuries, if not ever, Indians believe they can really change their lives for the better. Domestic companies that were minnows are now global giants. Executives who once struggled with whether they would be able to afford an apartment after retirement now make enough money every year to house a village. Domestic helpers who once struggled to wear hand-me-downs with dignity now prefer to buy clothes off the shelf. And illiterate farmers who toiled in barren fields by moonlight now live off remittances their children send them from Stockholm, San Francisco and Sharjah.”

Hindustan Times has number of informative compilations for the younger readers:

  Sixty successful men and women of India
  Sixty Indians who keep us culturally sound, grounded and proud.

Some good reading materials that appeared on I-day
  India at 60 is a country of the young people
  Just the write stuff: a list of India’s 60 best since Independence
  Cruising to the future on Highway 60
  Get Set For The Big League
  India at 60: A swot analysis by Mint

I keep on waiting for this day to get the opportunity to get a hand on these reading materials and collect it for my library. I don’t know how long that goes on.Many a times,I ponder if Independence Day could be celebrated with Bharat Mata as the main deity as Indians do with Ganesh Puja and Durga Puja. But Bharat Mata can’t be immersed after the festivity. I discard the dream.