***EvErYbOdY wAnTs ThE sAmE oLd ThInG***

We all want the same old things….we just find innovative ways to package our wants.

I’m sitting at the back of my dads first car (my two pig tails are wind blown) and Dad asks me, “What do you want, when you grow up? What do you want to be?” Rarely a 10 year old would be asked such a question. I rake my brains (I understand the gravity of this situation, “my small mind – the size of a pea” processes and is in overdrive, despite that I come up with the most “intelligent answer” I can think of) “Dad, I want to be someone who has one Ferrari parked in the driveway, driveway as long as the road that we are driving on and dogs everywhere, all kinds, and then house bigger than Windsor Manor (you have to hand it to my imagination!)”. I think my dad did slow down a little, I bet that wasn’t the answer he was expecting. Very literature rich answer. He says to me (trying very hard to keep the calm in his voice) “Beta…we should ask for things we can do and not for things that are unrealistic”. I thought, what was unrealistic, I will be super rich one day, and I can ofcourse buy all that…!! Dads, tosh…what do they know!”

I’m sitting next to dad, in the passengers’ seat, in his second car. My one pig tail is wind blown (AC was still a luxury, so windows are rolled down). “You should really start thinking about your career? What are you going to do? Spend your life listening to music?” Rarely is this question not asked to a 20 year old (During those days, my dad loved the grouch look) I switch to my defensive mode, and reply with as much attitude as I can muster, “Ofcourse I do!! What do you think I am? A good for nothing?? I have won a lot prizes, for you kind information. A lot of people like me. A lot of people think I’m capable of doing big thing. It’s a pity you don’t (any higher, I swear only the bats can hear me”).” He slows down (not bothering to conceal it or sound calm) “You are a 20 year old nothing, don’t raise your voice at me. At your age, I was this and that (I never pay attention to this part of dialogue)”. “I know what I’m doing. I know how much it takes to buy a car or a house (reality is beginning to settle in a bit). I know I have to work hard (yeah yeah) etc etc. (verbal diarrhea takes over, tears are also not that far behind)”.

6 years hence, I do have a career, A/C is a commodity, saving to buy my own car, dads not much of a grouch, bats and me don’t chat much, well I don’t have self questioning questions much, I don’t delve into my negative side much. But what I want hasn’t changed I tell people when they ask me “what’s your five year plan?” I tell them-VP at the least (yet another unrealistic one, VP in 5 years..!! PLEASE!!! I’m trying though, I work with that aim in mind, I do stop to smell the flowers though). But I know the perks that come with being a VP, then a president, then an O-zone officer. Cars, houses, Golf, Tennis, Power. I want the same old things. I just packaged them better. Added some value, and reduced the come backs. I mean, if you were to think about it, we all have our childish dreams, and no matter how old we get, we just find ways to (knowingly or unknowingly) stay true to or dreams. We never get too far from our Peter Pan days. I guess in one way, it’s true what they say about the child in us…never goes. And that’s not always a bad thing. I reckon not. Infact, childish dreams make us who we are today. 4, 40, 80….no difference really. We just travel through these ages…and never drift too far.