Childhood dreams…
Today every one of us is worried about our careers. Making a good career and earning big bucks is the prime focus of each of us. Also we are often confused and distraught over what to do. To go for MS after graduation or go for the lucrative MBA options. To stick to the field we graduated from or to shift to some other field. To join this company or that. To do this course or that. To do this course or that. Man, all this tuff does exhaust us mentally and we are still no where close to our big dreams of earning big bucks. Well, that’s how life is, isn’t it. Now that we have grown up we have to shoulder our own responsibilities and also those of the world.
However remember the days when we didn’t have to worry about these things. The days when making money was not as important as doing what we enjoyed doing. Those days of childhood when we dared to dream of being what we wanted. Those carefree days were a bliss and the most happy ones too. Like every other child even I had some crazy, weird and sometimes outrageous dreams and ambitions. How the world actually was then didn’t matter. What mattered was doing things which appealed to me and I enjoyed doing.
I remember how my interpretation of an engineer then was one who derives an engine. The train engine. Since I always was fascinated by trains I would think being an engineer would be a cool job. To think of it now, how wrong I was! Being an engineer is not even close to being interesting forget exciting like I thought. Similarly I was fascinated by aero planes and becoming a pilot too was one of my childhood fantasies. I would imagine going places in my own aircraft and my joys would know no bonds!
Our childhood dreams are also majorly affected by the incidents that happen when we are kids. For instance when the movie ‘Border’ was released I was gung-ho about being a soldier. I would have imaginary wars with my cousins, where we’d fire with imaginary guns, kill imaginary enemies, save the motherland and maybe eventually die(hypothetically though). This craze of mine went to such extents that we’d bombard the road with bricks on the vehicles. Vehicles being the enemy tanks and bricks being our bombs. Thanks to this silly act of mine I was severely reprimanded by my dad and thankfully so, before I broke someone’s skill and person either went in coma or died of haemorrhage.
As I grew up I started reading novels. I was intrigued by the thrilling ‘Sherlock Holmes’ novels and being a spy was my next new ambition. I remember how I’d act being a spy and actually spy on the people around me. Even now if I could I’d not mind being a spy working for some secret agency like M-16 or MIB.
Since childhood I must have had hundreds of new ambitions each day and I actually took them seriously. I would day dream about these whacky ambitions of mine and quite varied ones too. Right from being a pilot, engineer(one who drives engines!) to a soldier, spy, cook, the guy selling ice-creams and many many more.
Pondering over these I realize how impractical some of these dreams were and how innocent some other ones were. But all of these were linked to what I liked the most and what fascinated my young childish mind. However today I am finally doing ‘Engineering’ not the one ‘the younger me’ thought it was, but the actual engineering. And now I realize this is not what I wanted to do. But this is what I am required to do. Times have changed now and so have the priorities. These priorities that are dictated by the world and its lifestyles. The world where being successful means earning more and having more power. So here I am on my course to become an Engineer; still unsure of what to do ahead; still uncertain of what to do with my life and still doubtful if I’d ever be able to achieve the ambitions set by this world which surely are not as gratifying and exciting as the innocent, sweet childhood dreams I had…