Dreams

“Itni shiddat se tumhe paane ki koshish ki hai
Ki har zarre ne mujhe tumse milane ki saazish ki hai”

(I have tried with such extreme intensity to get you
that every atom has conspired to make me meet you)

“Kehte hain agar kisi cheez ko dil se chaaho to saari qaaynaat tumhe usse milane ki koshish me lag jaati hai”

(It is said that if you desire something with all your heart, then the entire universe endeavours to get it for you)

Gosh, translations have a way of taking the entire romance out of a couplet!

Anyway, remember this dialogue by Shahrukh Khan in Om Shanti Om? There are other variations on the same theme. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho is possibly one of the best stories on this. The Secret by Rhonda Byrne talks about the Power of Attraction. One could go on and on.

But is it really true? Does wishing for something with all your heart and soul, with all your intensity of desire, really make it happen for you?

We’ve read about amazing success stories which started from such dreams. I’m not talking about long ago, but recent ones – in our lifetime. Microsoft, Google, Apple, Virgin etc. And closer to home, there’s Infosys. (Read Sudha Moorthy’s “How I taught my Grandmother to read and other stories”). Then there’s Reliance!

Ahh, all of them are too big! It took geniuses, it took a few miracles, there was something else also, etc.etc....

Maybe true. Such stories do not happen to everyone.

But then, it could also have something to do with the dream that you have. Let me give the examples of two boys - one the son of a clerk who lost his job in the union strike in the 80s, and the other the son of a taxi driver. Both started off their lives in chawls in Nagpada (Google 'Nagpada' in case it sounds unfamiliar, and I'm sure you know what chawl means.)

Today, the first boy is a CA who is now working as a CFO at an MNC; and the other has his own successful contracting business, and who also runs and virtually single-handedly funds an orphanage for girls.

Which brings me to today's story. Of a boy who was also born and brought up in a chawl in that same area. In a 180 sq.ft. tenement with four toilets to be shared between 20 similar households. He lived in an area where most boys dropped out of school, and the better ones went on to pass their Std.10, and just a handful actually went on to complete their education. His mother was a municipal school teacher. And that allowed him and his two brothers to study for free, as the municipal corporation would pay their fees. He had to come 1st or 2nd in class, so that he would be eligible for scholarships that would help buy books, stationery and uniforms for the next year. Even with that, the brothers would have only only one set of uniform each for the entire school year.

One set of new clothes would come on Eid. And they had to be taken care of for the entire year. Imagine three growing boys starting off the year wearing loose shirts and trousers, which would be so tight-fitting a year later that the stitch had to be altered.

He participated in - and won - elocution competitions, debates, quizzes, but did not get through in athletics; maybe something to do with the diet - or lack of it!

He made a virtue of attending his school parties in school uniform when all classmates were in their best dresses.

When the time came to go to college, the issue was not of fees or books - he knew he would get the scholarship to take care of that - but of what he would wear! But he went through, with clothes borrowed from and shared with his uncle!

Immediately after college, he had to work since scholarships stopped after graduation, and there was not enough money to go in for higher education. His attempts to get into management were thwarted through a series of getting through CATs, GDs and failing in interviews. He did not know why then, but he possibly realizes now.

But amidst all this, he dared to dream!

Dreams which seem small now, but which were unachievable then!

Dreams of a large house ("with a kitchen as big as the house we are staying in, Ammi!"), of a car so that his parents would no longer have to wait for the bus or train in their old age, of enough money so that his wife and children would never lack what he, his mother and his brothers did.

And worked towards realising those dreams.

His mother pledged her Provident Fund, and along with his own savings through the period that he worked after graduation, he got through for post-graduation in Advertising and PR at IIMC, New Delhi. Upon reaching Delhi, he realised that the bank draft that he was carrying with him would take 15 days to encash, while the fees had to be paid in cash within 3 days!

And then, the dreams started coming true!

The universe conspired and endeavoured to get him what he wanted.

A friend of his mother had given him a letter to be delivered to her uncle in Delhi. He had never met this gentleman, they did not know each other, and a mixture of pride and embarrassment would not allow him to seek anyone's help. But somehow, when he went to deliver the letter, this gentleman realised something was amiss, found out the details, and not only paid his fees but also gave him some spare money to tide over till the draft was encashed and he could repay the loan.

That was the first instance!

From an advertising agency, he moved to a media house when it was considered infra dig to do so. Within 3 years, he got ESOPs, which partially helped fund his house!

That was the second instance!

When he tried his hand at a business and was swindled in it, he got a job in the Middle East, which not only helped him recover his losses, but also enabled him to perform Haj - a privilege that most Indian Muslims only keep dreaming about!

That was another!

If I write all the instances where the universe conspired to help this boy who just dared to dream and work towards it, it would take a book!

As my brother likes to say, "Dreams are a manifestation of your inner ambitions. They help you fix the aim / target / destination.....or the intent."

These dreams are the one that you dream in daylight!

So dare to dream - and then don't stop at that. Just go single-mindedly towards achieving your dreams, and the universe will endeavour to help you!

Anyway, what happened to that boy?

He now stays in a house which - as his wife says - is a dream house. The kitchen is not bigger than the tenement he grew up in, but his bathroom is definitely larger than the area that he and his wife used to euphemistically call their "bedroom". He drives a car that none but possibly the top 1% of urban India would drive.

Then, about a little more than a year ago, he stopped dreaming!

And...nothing changed for him.

Nothing at all!

There is no movement.

On the outside, he is reasonably successful, happy, "arrived" - as they say in Mumbai. But internally he realises that the past year could have been much better used. He could have gained much more - more knowledge, more work, more self-fulfillment!

He knows that the realisation has come in time. He's still young! He has started dreaming again - and working towards it.

This is not the 'Happies Endings' yet.

Picture abhi baaki hai mere dost!

(Postscript: I wanted to start the New Year with a blog that will hopefully inspire people to dare to dream, think positive and work unwaveringly towards achieving their dreams. Written over 10 days, this post is a culmination of that. Even if it helps one person achieve his/her dreams, that excruciating catharsis that I underwent in penning this would be worth it.)