Live your childhood dreams !!

The stage is set. The music is loud to the point where a slight increase in volume would shatter your ears rendering you deaf for the rest of your life. You are mesmerized - at the mercy of a bigger force. All that you do is – head bang - a westernized rendition of a villager captivated by a tantrik baba. The artist gets into his amazing solo. Your hands go across the guitar strapped across your body and you play your version of that solo. Your locks are all over the place giving you that unique look that only Rock stars own. And this goes on for a while.

Phat!!! The song ends. The bubble bursts. Suddenly, the guitar in your hand is gone and all you are left with is good-guy-crew-cut. The villager is out the tantrik’s captivity. And you start panting!!

It has been about eight months since I had listened to Randy Pausch. His talks about fulfilling your childhood dreams seemed all relevant to me. But thanks to my undoubted “strength” – procrastination, I have not been able to do that still. But later I realized that there is something more to it. All that I dreamt as a child was still unfulfilled or partially done at best. So, how much of an inspiration would you find in making a list that is full of unchecked boxes.

But things change. And for me, it changed during the long weekend. It was a first check on my list. Visiting Niagara was a big dream waiting to be fulfilled. With that across the way, it was time to make a note of my childhood dreams.

As demonstrated above, the first unchecked one would be learning to play a guitar. Yeah! A guitar in your hand would look much better than bare fingers playing a solo. Even though you flirt with your impossible dreams, there has to be a reality-check - especially when you are talking about something as definitive and difficult as learning to play a guitar. Okay fine! I downsize my guitar dreams. I should at least be able to roll out the standard Hindi guitar songs – Papa kehte hai, Allah ke bande, et al. But kehte hai na – Allah meherban to gadha pehelwan. Who knows, I might even learn to play some of my favorite solos. ‘Unforgiven’ and ‘comfortably numb’ would top that list.

So, the guitar dream is defined. The next one in the list is to whistle. Every time I saw SRK in a movie whistling his heart out, I would think – will I ever be able to do that? I have been mocked quite a few times, Abe yedus tu siti bhi nahi mar sakta? All I can do is – to play out that two-handed-conch whistle. The two-fingered-whistle, one-fingered whistle, free-hand whistle – the types overburden me. I should be able to learn at least one of those types. So there goes one more in my list.

I would say that the above two ones on the list were quite timid. The ones I could gain with practice. It is time to write down my biggest dream. Ohh! We have all dreamt of it. Cool as hell!! You remember that scene in ‘Mission: Impossible II' where Tom Cruise stands atop the mountain and the camera rolls all across the extended landscape. Or even in ‘Braveheart’ where Mel Gibson does a Tom Cruise version – albeit before him. That is so cool!! Sometime, before I die, I have to do that. I would stand on top of a mountain (let’s say somewhere on the Grand Canyon or Harishchandragad/Sahyadri) with a video crew flying on the chopper capturing my coolest moves and all of the amazing landscape around me. And I could ask Rahman to put up some cool music on the background.

And on and on, I go with my list.

I often remember these lines - "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intent of arriving of safety in an attractive and well preserved today, but a try to skid sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, with the body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming- woo hoo. What a ride!! Remember, life is not measured by the number of breathes we take, but the moments that take out breath away." So, true.

Some things seem risky.Some things seem impossible. But we always love the risky and impossible ones, don’t we – especially when we don’t know our limits. That’s what we often did as a child - dream of things, irrespective of whether we would achieve it or not. I wanted to be Sachin Tendulkar, make my way through the space onto the moon, to lead a life on a tree house inside the Amazon or sometimes just fly like Superman and save some damsel in distress. So often stupid – but we would just Dream!! But as we grow older, we become more ‘practical’ and more often than not - stab that child in us – who would often dream of things in a plane – where he doesn’t belong. If Randy is correct – and I know damn well, he is – there is a unique satisfaction in living that childhood dream of yours.

Even if you cannot achieve it, at least write it down – there is some childhood-fun waiting to explode.Go ahead and live your dream.

Note: For all those, who have not seen Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture – please do see it. It’s worth its weight in gold.

A New Beginning

By Kandan,

He woke up to the sounds of birds and some dogs barking in the distance but the most distinct sound he heard was of the waves pounding on the sea. He slowly looked around him; he might have slept for some time .His friends were not there. He blinked his eyes to adjust to the warm sunlight and what lay before him was the most beautiful sight he had laid his eyes on ever in his life. The sea was clear devoid of any human form or shape, the crystal clear blue water lay spread before like a canvas waiting for the divine brush to lay on it. The blue sky with fluffy white clouds extended beyond it and above him the sun shining majestically on the scene. He felt the warmth of the sunshine as it pierced through his outer skin and he felt the pure energy seeping through him. It was like he was being cleansed from the world above.

He slowly got up and was only mystified by the beauty of the place, the mountains and trees slowly wafting in the gentle wind that blew across the land completed the most serene and heavenly atmosphere that could have been created. He walked towards the waves as they splashed across the rocks. The sound of the waves was most pleasing and it was something natural that did not seem out of place. In fact nothing seemed out of fact. The waves touched his feet and went back, and soon they were back and again left him. He just let his senses takeover him, and his thoughts which were so many suddenly were none. He was in a state of equilibrium, a feeling of nothing, a feeling of bliss. He was not happy, he did not think, he did not move and it was the state of mind that he experienced which gave him such pleasure that it was worth leaving everything behind.

He closed his eyes and the sun rays hit on his eyelids and the warm sensation eased his body into relaxation. Never did he think about this and he totally forgot everything around him. The sound of the waves resonated in his ears, he felt the sunshine on his skin and his mind was set free. He smiled in wonder at this state, of what he felt. It felt like eternity before he opened his eyes and he shuddered at the thought of such experiences. He saw the distant boat; he looked at the small houses far away removed from civilization. Life so far was like the waves, ebbing back and forth but he had no idea he was already a quarter century old. The childhood memories, the teen fantasies were replaced by the realistic acceptance of things that were not possible.

Yes he could not emulate Sachin Tendulkar, he would not be able to land on the moon but they had served purposes. They gave him hope; they were something he might have lived for. He sighed. Such is life. Here today, gone tomorrow. He knew he hardly had another 60years on this earth if he was lucky! Sometimes time just is, the people who are the ones who come and go.

There is always a spark in every child, a curiosity, eagerness and a mind to do things. But somewhere along the way things tend to wane, things tend to get lost. But today suddenly he felt like that child again, wanting to go beyond his limitations, wanting to go beyond that job he had. Everyone has a fucking job! He realized he had but one life, the satisfaction of constantly challenging himself was what he looked forward to everyday. But then where had he lost that feeling that had kept him charged for so long. Why did he fit into the norm, because it was easy or to just to appease people who are supposed to matter to him?

He looked behind him; he looked in front at the waves. He did not pause, diving full length into the water he swam like there was no tomorrow. He left it behind. It was a new beginning.

Is reality driven by human mind?

Right since my childhood, I have been fascinated by the charm – a magician or an illusionist exudes into making us believe that you see is indeed magic. A thought you would want to come true. Your search for the world of magic – a world where you rule, where things happen because you wanted them to happen, where people behave the way you want them to. Aaah!! - A world which all of us want in our dreams. If it were only for magic to be real!!! But the eternal human quest to understanding reality has always been constricted by one’s perception. It is this inability that an illusionist uses to alter your perception to weave an illusion, which you buy as Magic.

One of the strongest pieces that remains entrenched in my mind forever has to be this – “Be ready to show the world, what you want to see for yourself”. Meaning all that you see in the world, is nothing but what you are showing to the world. So, reality is as you see it. More truly, what your mind wants to see. Reality is something that, we choose to see.

Our human mind is extremely potent in adjusting itself to becoming the way we had always wanted to be. So, if you are blown away with the style of a particular person or a character, it so often happens that you end up behaving like they do. It is this, internal desire that your mind caters to – of making you the person you had always wanted to become. Of seeing things, we always wanted to see. Of making a reality that, you would fit in.

This leads to the further question, as to, if this were true, everyone in this world would be having things his or her own way. No, it always doesn’t. The extent always depends on your degree of craving or simply put your degree of madness. So, your-real-world would come closest to the actual world; when your mind is strong enough to change the actual world.

How often we have heard people say, that if we want something badly, the whole universe helps us in achieving that. But things might be slightly on a higher plane. It’s just because, your carving for your goal is so strong that the universe comes out of its way to accommodate your goals and desires. Thereby, your-reality is now reality for others.

It’s a big mesh between the interchangeably used words reality-illusion. It’s just perspectives that people choose to place their feelings. While I see it as a changing-reality-with-a-change-in-perception, others might see it as change-in-perception-with-a-constant-reality. But then again, we are back to square one. Who sees the true reality? Some third person who can see all these things devoid of any perceptional imbalances.

Whatever be the case, all that we see in this world is a reality out of perception. The way we want to see it. And as far as the third person goes, we probably refer to HIM as GOD - an unbiased, impassionate, adjudicator of truth and reality. Really, reality is stranger than fiction.

Pic courtesy: Heikenwaelder Hugo, Austria, Email : heikenwaelder@aon.at, www.heikenwaelder.at