It was only after sipping cappuccinos and filling up on pork products at a breakfast buffet,
only after standing on the hotel lawn to sing India’s national anthem and release balloons in the colors of the flag,
only after snapping photos of men in impeccable period costumes posing next to a rangoli created with flower petals,
only after watching the groundskeepers and valet-parking staff try to fly kites in the still steamy air,
only on the way home,
did we realize the irony of celebrating India’s 69th Independence Day at a British Raj-era hotel.

On the very day our host country was rejoicing in its freedom from occupation, we were relishing the upscale jasmine-scented luxury of The Imperial, inaugurated by Lord Willingdon, British Governor-General of India, in 1936.

Just five years prior to that, Willingdon had ordered the arrest of Mahatma Gandhi.

So … that realization was a little sobering.

Still, irony aside, we had a lovely morning with wonderful company. Breakfast at The Imperial is always a treat, and the staff beamed with pride as they served traditional sweets, pressed their hands together in namaste and said, “Happy Independence Day!”

We listened to a speaker, who referenced India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his famous speech to the Indian Constituent Assembly on Aug. 15, 1947.

Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long supressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of Inida and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity.

(You can read the short but powerful speech at Fordham University’s Modern History Sourcebook.)

Reading that gives me goosebumps and makes me extra grateful today for the opportunity to live, work and play in the biggest democracy in the world.