India, June 1 -- "We, the people of India, have solemnly resolved to constitute India into a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic..."

Of late, these lines have been reverberating in my head for reasons I myself struggle to fully understand. It is strange how a sentence drafted decades before my birth can still stir emotions stronger than any other relationship. Every time I hear those words, I experience an unusual sense of pride, almost as if I were physically present in that historic moment when we announced ourselves as a Republic.

Often, I find myself imagining that moment in the Constituent Assembly. Of course, the imagination comes from whatever we have read or heard from our teachers. Yet, I think about what our leade...