Seven decades of Independence

Through seven decades, they have seen the nation keep and miss its tryst with destiny. They have lived through the best and the worst of times, weathered wars, riots and scarcity. Ahead of India's 73rd Independence day, amid a pandemic-filled gloom, citizens in their 70s share their personal stories of resilience. First, we have former Indian cricket captain Bishan Singh Bedi, 74, who writes on the resilience that got him through the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. "For close to nine months, my family and I had no roof over our heads. Sometimes, we would stay with friends who were gracious enough to host us, and, at other times, we were at my employers’ Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) guesthouse," he writes.