Dreams are Powerful

I remember the day when I thought of buying a Mercedes Benz. The year was 1976; I was 23 then, had a salary of Rs. 1,400 per month, with little financial strength at home. Without any regard to my financial standing, I said I wanted to drive a Mercedes.

Some time later, I was with my wife outside the Mumbai airport, sitting on a wall along the garden and I said to her, ‘Can I ever fly?’ I was stretching my neck, watching an aeroplane taking off. I was still working with salary of Rs. 1,400 p.m. Later, my wife urged me to apply for an MBA in the US. Looking at our financial position it was a hopeless case. All the same, we spent money putting in our applications. I got admission in probably seven universities, but still it was impossible to take off. Then Akron (the fifth largest city in the US State of Ohio) came up with full Graduate Assistantship and I flew off, with USD 500 in my pocket without any further possibility of money coming from India.

I recollect having been impressed by the doctorate professors and the knowledge they had. One Dr. Hawk was a D.Sc. (I think). Even though I returned to Mumbai, I said to my wife that my aspiration was to do a doctorate.

This preamble was to give you some background. The dreams I had painted took a long time to take shape. Could these have materialised earlier? Could these have been shaped better? Maybe; maybe not. I do not know.

However, one thing I learned in all these years is that dreams can be realised. And day-dreaming really works. All we need is the courage to dream and voice those dreams. This is important; one needs to verbalise the dreams, say them openly without any fear or apprehension of being ridiculed. Secondly keep the dreams alive through the years; do not allow them to slip away. Keep talking about your dreams, do not worry about what others might think.

Having dreamt, now start thinking about them. As long as you have them at the back of your mind all the time, you will find a way. A window, a door will open for you. You will get to know from time to time what is to be done. There is no set course; this will always remain uncharted path, to be traversed individually. While there are no rules there are still some guidelines I practised that produced results. I will keep them for Part II.

For the time, contemplate on what I have said here. I’ll love to read your thoughts.