Scene 1: A kid is cycling around the lake, he feels like taking a leap in the cold water, parents disapproving look stops him from doing what he just so desired.
Scene 2: A young man is fighting with his father, he wants to leave their business, but he remembers his pregnant wife and the realization of his responsibilities stops him from following his dream and setting up business on his own.
Scene 3: A middle aged man wants to buy a luxurious car, he remembers the smiling face of his children and again the realization of his responsibilities stops him from buying the car he so desired.
Scene 4: An old man drives in a car towards the same lake, he leaves all the inhibitions and takes a leap in the cold water – just does what he so desired.
Background voice: How many adjustments have you done for yourself and your loved ones? Now, live your life for yourself.
[View this advertisement http://youtube.com/watch?v=tp691MtquY4]
That advertisement provoked a thought about how many of us really fulfill our wishes or rather live our lives on our own terms. How many of us nurture our childhood dreams? Remember, I am talking about childhood dreams. Are you what you thought you would be when you were a kid?
Just a few days back I came across a very inspirational article about Mr. Sarath Babu – an IIM graduate, now a crorepati and who still lives in a hut with his mother. Today he owns a food unit. When he was a kid he used to sell Idalis in the slums. He always wanted to have a restaurant of his own. When he graduated from IIM, he rejected offers from banks and consulting companies to pursue his childhood dream. Today he just doesn’t have a restaurant but he has a whole food unit of his own that supplies food to many canteens and restaurants in south India. Today he is what he wanted to be. [Get Sarath Babu’s whole story at http://specials.rediff.com/money/2008/apr/29sarath1.htm]
Around 9 years back I used to work in Mumbai and travel by local train. That’s where I met a middle aged lady, very easy going and next door neighbor kinds. We used to meet in the train since we used to travel by the same train every day. We never ran out of topics. There was so much to talk about in that one hour journey. She was working in a nationalized bank for 15 years and her husband was working with the government. She had 2 children. It sounded like the “Perfect” life. When I mentioned that, there was a ‘BUT’ in her tone. It wasn’t so. It was her childhood dream to become a dancer. She could not fulfill her dream. She grew up watching girls dancing in a near by dance school. Her parents didn’t allow her to join the school since for them, dancing was not an art and it definitely was not something to be practiced by girls from respected families. She finished her studies, got married, had 2 kids and there she was sitting next to me – not completely happy even till that day. Though she had a life any body would envy for, she still sometime dreamt of being a dancer, performing stage shows in different cities. May be she wouldn’t have lived as comfortable life as she was living then, but she would have been satisfied and she would have slept well. If not completely happy, atleast she would have been satisfied of having followed her dream.
I am not sure if one should follow childhood dreams or not and how relentlessly one should pursue them. But I would like to know how many of us still have that urge to follow our childhood dream.
During annual performance appraisals, I asked one of my team members a routine question about where he saw himself five years down the line. I was astonished to hear that he wanted to be an assistant movie director working alongside Sankar (For the uninitiated, Sankar is a very successful Tamil movie director). An IT professional wanted to jump to the film industry – which is one of the toughest industries to get into. It was inspiring to hear that he still was keen to pursue his dream. I wish all the success in his childhood dream.
In India or may be all over the world, there is a rosy picture of perfect life or you may say a regular life – during childhood, go to school or do whatever your parents wish you to do, finish your graduation, get that dream job, get married, have kids, take care of them and their education, get them married, take care of grand children and so on…..
There is nothing wrong in living such a regular life. But the question is whether we are doing what we wanted to do during our childhood or are we just following the rules of the society? Is there any space in this society to follow our childhood dreams? Do you want to fulfill your childhood dream? What was your childhood dream? Start thinking about it. There is only one life; don’t just live a regular life. Do what you always wanted to do.
It is hard to succeed but it is worse than never have tried.
