Dreams can teach us resilience, guide us through adversity, and inspire us to aspire for something more.

We all dream with our eyes open. It doesn’t matter if we succeed in all of this. The beauty of travel also enriches our lives in ways we may not immediately imagine. My countless dreams keep me moving forward. My father gave me a comic adaptation of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield when I was 6 years old.

I was impressed by the way David faced the adversities in his life. He was sent to boarding school by his stepfather and was saved from the bullying of James Steerforth. The two formed an unlikely friendship that ended with James’ death.

Steerforth was a libertine scoundrel, but David saw all the good in him. My dream at that tender age depended on my state of mind. Sometimes I would like to be like David, overcoming all adversities, other times I would like to be a lovable scoundrel like James, ready to help his friends.

I guess I imbibed a bit of both. I had studied mainly in Hindi in all boys’ schools during my formative years. I was afraid of talking to girls the first time I went to a co-ed school, when I was just 12 years old. I looked with envy at boys who could speak English fluently with girls. I would like to be like them. Later, I understood that it was important to communicate, language being secondary. Two heroes entered my life during this time. Sunil Gavaskar of world cricket and Bjorn Borg of lawn tennis fame.

I watched with envy as their ability to show no emotion, whether winning or losing. I was and continue to be sentimental. My face is transparent and displays all my emotions. However, I realized that being sentimental also equates to being passionate about your goals and is not a weakness.

My dreams weren’t so spectacular during my middle professional years. These were routine dreams of climbing the career ladder to reach the top, whether in the government sector, where one is forced to progress at a steady pace to a level predetermined by one’s age and background. seniority ; or to earn more money in the private sector.

Then I left the system. Freed from invisible chains, I went berserk with my dreams. I spent a lot of time in the kitchen during the COVID-19 days, baking bread and making wine. Surprisingly, even my wife stopped objecting to my presence in a space she had always considered her private domain. I started dreaming of being recognized as a renowned chef.

I also started writing at this late stage in my life and another dream was born. I started thinking about winning a Booker Prize or a Sahitya Akademi Prize. Once you pass 60, you want to be immortal. What could be better than leaving our memory centuries after your departure?

My dream is for my books to take pride of place on someone’s bookshelf in the 23rd century; like the books of my favorite author, Charles Dickens, on my bookshelf, 200 years later. I now understand that no dream is irrational, wacky, weird, or not worth pursuing.

What is this life if we do not dream and fight for it? We may not achieve many, but we will succeed in a few. This is what makes life extraordinary. Lee Kuan Yew’s words are true: “If you are just realistic, if you become a pedestrian, you will fail.” You have to be able to soar above reality and say: “this too is possible”.

(The author is an electrical engineer with Indian Railways and teaches creative writing classes; opinions are personal)