Page 82 - DENG101_Communication Skills-I

Unit 7: Comprehension Passages

the millions who suffer. It means the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality Notes
of opportunity. The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every tear
from every eye. That may be beyond us, but as long as there are tears and suffering, so long our
work will not be over.
And so we have to labour and to work, and work hard, to give reality to our dreams. Those
dreams are for India, but they are also for the world, for all the nations and peoples are too closely
knit together today for any one of them to imagine that it can live apart Peace has been said to be
indivisible; so is freedom, so is prosperity now, and so also is disaster in this One World that can
no longer be split into isolated fragments.
To the people of India, whose representatives we are, we make an appeal to join us with faith and

confidence in this great adventure. This is no time for petty and destructive criticism, no time for
ill-will or blaming others.
We have to build the noble mansion of free India where all her children may dwell. The appointed
day has come-the day appointed by destiny-and India stands forth again, after long slumber and
struggle, awake, vital, free and independent. The past clings on to us still in some measure and
we have to do much before we redeem the pledges we have so often taken. Yet the turning-point
is past, and history begins anew for us, the history which we shall live and act and others will
write about.

It is a fateful moment for us in India, for all Asia and for the world. A new star rises, the star of
freedom in the East, a new hope comes into being, a vision long cherished materializes. May the
star never set and that hope never be betrayed! We rejoice in that freedom, even though clouds

surround us, and many of our people are sorrow stricken and difficult problems encompass us.
But freedom brings responsibilities and burdens and we have to face them in the spirit of a free
and disciplined people.

On this day our first thoughts go to the architect of this freedom, the Father of our Nation
[Gandhi], who, embodying the old spirit of India held aloft the torch of freedom and lighted up
the darkness that surrounded us. We have often been unworthy followers of his and have strayed
from his message, but not only we but succeeding generations will remember this message and
bear the imprint in their hearts of this great son of India, magnificent in his faith and strength and

courage and humility. We shall never allow that torch of freedom to be blown out, however high
the wind or stormy the tempest.
Our next thoughts must be of the unknown volunteers and soldiers of freedom who, without
praise or reward, have served India even unto death. We think also of our brothers and sisters
who have been cut off from us by political boundaries and who unhappily cannot share at present
in the freedom that has come. They are of us and will remain of us whatever may happen, and we
shall be sharers in their good [or] ill fortune alike.
The future beckons to us. Whither do we go and what shall be our endeavour? To bring freedom

and opportunity to the common man, to the peasants and workers of India; to fight and end
poverty and ignorance and disease; to build up a prosperous, democratic and progressive nation,
and to create social, economic and political institutions which will ensure justice and fullness of
life to every man and woman.
We have hard work ahead. There is no resting for any one of us till we redeem our pledge in full,
till we make all the people of India what destiny intended them to be. We are citizens of a great
country on the verge of bold advance, and we have to live up to that high standard. All of us, to
whatever religion we may belong, are equally the children of India with equal rights, privileges
and obligations. We cannot encourage communalism or narrow-mindedness, for no nation can
be great whose people are narrow in thought or in action.

To the nations and peoples of the world we send greetings and pledge ourselves to cooperate with
them in furthering peace, freedom and democracy. And to India, our much-loved motherland,

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