The Last Of The Witnesses To The First Independence Day Celebration

Ali Peter John

She was only seventeen and was aware of a special day  to celebrate the newly found Independence for the country.She had seen her mother preparing for the great day and keeping the  family in a state of excitement over the historic happening in the country .....

That great day , August 15,1947 dawned and there were festivities all around the country but she remembers that day in the  city to which she and her family had come in quest of a better future ......

She remembers how the family (Mai , her mother , Asha , Meena, Usha and Hridaynath ) had spent the day together and the atmosphere at home was like any other big festival with her mother , Mai preparing some good food for lunch......

The family moved out in the evening and Lata remembers how there were lights all over and fireworks in every corner of the city  . The family had got into a truck and gone from place to place observing all the festive scenes and were all excited .....

They came back home to celebrate the first Independence day with some  sweets prepared by Mai , the mother who was the head of the family after her husband Pandit Dinanath Mangeshkar had died very young.

Lata has always considered herself very fortunate to be a witness to the celebrations of the 1st Independence day .

Little did the teenager Lata know that she would one day be a part of every house in the new India and would also be the pearl and pride of India , Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar .