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.
3 comments:
Thats Suv again! a very different and relevant topic this time - more so in a society that demands conformity more than novelty. When I was getting ragged in first yr engg my seniors asked me to stay with the crowd ("bhid ke sath chalo" as they would say it). We did so. A lot of us have been doing it all our life.
Once i was wondering if not everyone is capable of dreaming and if to create new vistas in the mindspace one needs to be exposed to this kind of mental state at the first place. It was shattered when i saw a rikshaw puller whistling and approving a hero of his actions, when he was punishing the villain for his wrong deeds. This rikshaw puller admired the hero - for an instant, in his mind, he lives the life of that hero. He cant do that in his real life so he comes here, to watch the movie and live that life for the duration of the show. When he comes out he changes his mental state. I dont know if we could call this phenomenon MPD, but we live multiple lives at the same time. A couple of them that we've been taught to be practical. The others that are dictated whimsical. Most of us follow the practical path in real life and admire the one that we would approve of only while the show runs - in our minds and in the theatres. We are taught generations after generations after generations, what the earlier generation passed on to them. They failed to dream and failed to realize the importance of conviction. Risk that could be one of the most beautiful words of dictionary is a dreaded one. We want to avoid it most of the time. I learnt word "risk" early in school, learnt "risk management" as a term almost twenty years after that.
Capitalizing on someone else's work is a right thing to do. Seeeking guidance is good too. There isnt any point in reinventing the wheel after all. But allowing the minds to muse on it and formulate absolutes from abstracts on its own, is even better. Not a new thing that i have discovered now. It's been there all the while and those minds that formed their own decisions, their own absolutes made enormous contributions to the mankind. Keplar/Copernicus were rejected initially, just to emerge triumphant later on due to their conviction.
Its imperative that we as an integral part of the society encourage and inculcate the virtue of chasing dreams in the generations to come. On the 10000th try there was light and Edison was born - lets spread the word!!
How beautiful! I have read this article 3 times and each time I have something to take away from it. Very well written, Suv. I am also impressed that you are nurturing this desire to write. Vishal loved it too! Keep it rollin'!
Gud post!!!!!!!!1
Post a Comment