He dreamt that he was floating and flying in his room. He was floating upto the ceiling and was moving to other rooms as well. It was fun! He was thoroughly enjoying this experience and wished that it never ended. But as all dreams come to an end this too ended, as his nanny woke him up for he was getting late for school. But he was thinking of the dream all the way to his school and as well during the class hours.
It was not long enough that he discovered that he was not the only one who had this dream, as he listened his English teacher narrate the story of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ at school.
There were several nights when he closed his eyes wishing to dream that same dream! Experiencing floating and flying in dreams and listening & reading it in fairly tales was fun, but he longed for something real.
And one day at school his science teacher taught him that it is the gravitational force that keeps all things fixed to the ground and the absence of which means that all of us would be floating; like that of inside a ‘Rocket’ or in ‘Space’. It was very fascinating and REAL! He wanted to know more about Rockets and Space.
In a few weeks time his dad told him that he will take him to a book store and that he could pick any book that he wanted (but not to cost more than 100 rupees)! He was very excited at the thought that his father was taking him to a book store and that weekend his dad did take him and all through the way he was only thinking about books on rockets and space! That store had only books in the vernacular and he was interested to read in English. But as he was browsing through the books at the shelf one book caught his eyes. A book on science by a known author Sujatha (who too was brought up in his hometown, Trichy and by his grandparents, like him). He was only in the 6th grade but was familiar with Sujatha’s writings in Junior Vikatan and Ananda Vikatan. This book was on science facts and lots on the space & universe and he liked it! He immediately grabbed that book and his father bought it for him.
He was so much fascinated that he even enjoyed the slightest moment of the ‘floating’ feeling while going around in a Giant Wheel and he desired for that moment to last forever!
As he neared his completion of 12th grade he started to look for options to pursue higher education in Astronomy/Astrophysics and applied for many universities in the United Kingdom. But this pursuit did not materialize as his father refused to support his education in abroad. It so appeared that his childhood dreams had come to an end. It seemed as if all his hopes and dreams would never come true. He even started to question his life’s purpose and almost decided to quit (to read this and his life changing experience read I Quit)
After 12 years of all this had happened, as he was traveling in a train he was remembering these and was thinking whether his childhood dream would never come true! Just then he remembered a verse in the Bible -
And he wished for Jesus to come soon, for He loves Jesus and loves flying - up, up and up!
(Penned in the train ‘Sanghamitra Express’ on 2nd Oct 2011). This post is neither a scientific nor a theological essay, but only a personal memoir.
A small girl, may be eight or nine years old, carrying a small child, walking from coach to coach, begging for money. Some chase her, some chide her and some give her some coins. And as she goes on to one coach, there is a family, a father, mother with their two kids. The man tells his wife to give some money to this girl. And as she takes out the money, their child, the bigger of the two curiously watches this begging girl.
There come two other children; one girl and the other seems to be her brother. At the first look I mistake them for rag pickers. But as they come closer I realize that they are the ones who earn their livelihood by dancing & doing tricks. From the girl’s neck hangs a dholak (an Indian drum) and a whip around the boy’s. I assume that even as the girl would play the drum, the boy would beat himself with the whip and the watchers would throw some money at these kids, some amused at their act, some feeling pity and almost none would think and act for such kids and that includes me. And to add, some like me would write, while some would read and appreciate the writing.