Where the mind is without fear.....

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action;
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

-- Rabindranath Tagore

Today, out of the blue, I recalled reciting this poem. Once upon a time, this was like a school prayer for me. It reminded me of the days when we used to stand in the hot sun during the school assembly, in our sky blue shirts and grey pinafores, with my hair either high up in a ponytail or plaited on both sides and our school principal Mr Suresh Mathur used to recite it and we used to repeat every line after him.

Today as I recalled the poem, the first few lines, made me feel as if I got out of a cage and a strong breeze was blowing, which just made me feel free. All disturbed thoughts of one’s mind completely evaporated and the mind became a comfortable blankness. It has a patriotic feel to it but also it makes an individual feel free from within.

How I wish I realised the meaning of what I used to recite during my school days and realised that those indeed were the days of absolute bliss and freedom.