5 min readAug 15, 2026 07:17 AM IST First published on: Aug 15, 2026 at 07:00 AM ISTBy Siddhesh GautamEvery year on Independence Day, I find myself wondering about two different worlds. One is the world of the nation of flags, speeches, celebrations and the nostalgia of freedom from colonial rule. The other is a more intimate world, the world of lived experiences, where independence feels limited, unevenly distributed and often denied. These two worlds keep floating in my head, conflicting and yet coexisting.