Here I am

Here I am:

I guess that’s a song that all of us have heard a lot of times (at least I have !!!). Sat today wondering whether I can make any sense out of this song for myself – I have this weird feeling that everything around me has relevance for me!!!!

Yes, here I am – an MBA student at the most vilely created B-school in the world (ISB - the setting is beautiful as they say – but wait till you start doing the assignments, and the cases and the exams and the horrendous looking grades too!!!). Yes, I am here because I was wild and free – had this stupid notion that I know precisely what I want to do in life and that I must go to the best place in India and blah blah blah ….. So, yes – here I am because I was so wild and free …

So, here I am – so young and strong … right in the place where I belong – I guess I deserved every bit of my life … be it my work place (where I was screwed every day or while in college …. Because I was the only one who believed I was great – my teachers believed other wise – I have a bad feeling that they were right) ….

But yes – it is a new world and a new day ….. Each one being different from the other – one can have a happy and satisfying life if one treats each day as a new day – independent of the ones before it. It is indeed a new world suitable for the “beating of a young heart”.

It is a new day in a young land and it is waiting for me – I know all of you must be thinking – there he goes again. Optimism at the highest and stupidest level. But, I don’t mind – in fact those who mind being laughed at because of their dreams are the ones who crib about being a failure in life.

Doesn’t it always come as a surprise that the most often given advice is to be practical; to be rational and with your feet on the ground? Come to think of it, the last time somebody asked me dream was in 5th standard (I still recall it was Sister Hema – my class teacher)!! It is a different thing that I did not go on to become what I dreamt then (wanted to be a fighter pilot – probably thanks to the TV serials being aired then!!!!). But the bigger question is – why does everybody ask us not to dream but to be rational and practical. Come to think of it – is it rational not to dream? How does one get to know what is practically achievable for him or her without trying it out?

I remember my last trip to heaven (ok – I am exaggerating!!) – but it was pretty close – I was standing on top of a 13550 ft peak in the Garhwal Himalayas (so what if it was a minnow in front of Mt. Kailash or Mt. Everest!!!). Before the start of the trek, our leader – Ms. Bachendri Pal – gave a lot of talk (they all do!!!) – said something like: “the human body has only one limit – the one set by your mind.” We all heard – really heard!! Ok .. ok – I know what it means – we all dozed off !!! (except when we took those snaps – the ones with her – that we could show to the others just to show that we were there with her!!!). A week later at 13550 ft, we realized that we were lucky that we heard her. Of a group of some 70 or so people, only a handful of us made it to the top. I was there too … with crepe bandages on both my knees – but still there.

Recently we met Captain Raghu Raman (in his famous lecture – “leadership lessons from Siachen”). Ms Bachendri Pal’s words came back to haunt me – a man is what he chooses to be. How does one know whether a man is a good man or a bad man? Just because he respects his elders, has a successful career and has never molested a woman? Or is it because he never got a chance to do so or was too scared to do so? An old saying goes - A man’s real test comes in the dark – when he knows that there is no fear in doing it and still decides not to. A man is what he chooses to – more specifically, a man is a summation of his / her choices. And that is precisely where dreams come in.

When we dream, we are only looking at possible pathways that we can take in our life. Whether we allow it to remain just a dream or work towards it is our choice. More often than not we do what is “best” for us – but best by whose standards – the society or our parents or our friends. Who are they to decide what is best for us? They can at best be our guide but the ultimate decision has to be your own. You will finally become what you choose to be. How many of us have come across engineers & doctors who crib daily about the work pressures and how they dislike their jobs? I guess a few haven’t!! Why this unhappiness? I believe it is simply because we have been allowing others to decide for us. We need to take our lives into our own hands and then choose to do what we really want to do in life.

Setting the ultimate level of our life is something that we ought to do. What is the highest that we aspire to achieve? That is what our dreams are all about. So, dream away to glory but do not let dreams be your master. And once decided, choose to be guided by it. But ya – be ready to face the consequences too – just like I am (what with all the assignments and exams and arbit CPs and awful grades ….)!!!!

After all – life is but a summation of our choices. Make your choice right now (and yes – hear the song!!!!!).