A lil' blast from the past

Before I start posting in this blog, I thought I’d just copy-paste a chapter from a group in the same name – The Soliloquy of a Libertine – that I once hosted. Just to get into that good ol’ philosopher gear ;)

CHAPTER 2: Another Road Not Taken

It was an afternoon in August and I was sitting on the sandy beach of Shangumugham near the Trivandrum Air-port.It's the second best place I prefer whenever I feel that I need to spend some time with Mr. Solitude.The sea was calm and as usual,I was cogitating with my eyes fixed passively on the crimson above the horizon when something which seemed to be a silver arrow dashed across the sky followed by the deafening sound of a jet engine.After a second or two,one morefighter plane of the Indian Airforce dashed through the same path.

The 'Sukhoys' were doing their routine practice rounds.A couple of days back,I had read in the news papers that its with the American f-15s that they are practicing above the Indian ocean, these days.

My mind raced back in time and stopped at the face of a 12 year old boy. The ultimate dream of this 12 year old boy was to soar the skies in ultra-sonic speeds. His notebooks wre filled with sketches of pilots and fighter planes. He even made a couple of comic books with pilots in the lead roles. At young age, children tend to get easily influenced by the stuff that they watch and it must have been the Tom Cruise starrer Top Gun and a couple of other movies in the Iron-Eagle series that inspired this boy. So, he grew up with the dreams of becoming a fighter-plane pilot someday. But at age 16, he developed a slight myopia. Before long he realized that he would have to give up his dreams of becoming an air-force pilot.

But he continued making comic books. Art was his passion, and that made him an ardent dreamer. He created chaotic realms and mystic characters never seen before. His comic books became quite popular in his school

After schooling, he took up Computer Engineering as that seemed to be the most promising option for a good career. Computer engineers were in high demand at that time. But his mind was always after more adventurous and creative things.

For a while he tried to compensate for his 'losses' by signing into the internet in the false name-John Hunt-A naval aviator on board the U.S.S.George Washington- the aircraft carrier as large as the Empire State Building. His job : flying Harrier fighter planes. He continued having fun this way till he realized that the most enjoyable thing in life is being oneself. That is when he gave up being a 'pseudo'.

After graduating as a computer engineer,he turned to the multimedia side since that was more fun. During his eight months' training in Toons India as a 3D Animator, he found a handful of guys with the same mentality,vision and almost the same attitude as his.They decided to start something on their own and together they registered a company called the Mirchiz Studios. Together, now they aim at making their dreams come true.

Now you must be thinking "Wotz this guy trying to prove with this story outta' the blue?". That was just a brief version of the last ten years of my life.Ofcourse it is true that I am happy with the way I am today and the graveyard of broken-dreams is not a place I frequent.But there are times when I ask myself the 'what if'- questions.It is at these times that I think about the roads that were not taken.What if I had undergone a laser surgery and pursued my dream career? But the closest I can get to being a pilot now is when I play one of those flight simulator games on my computer or when I imagine myself to be sitting in the cock-pit of a F-16 while driving my car on the highway all alone.

I am not much into poetry. But Robert Frost is one among the few poets that i admire. His poem 'The Road Never Taken' gives the message that everyone is a traveller, choosing the roads to follow on the map of their continuous journey of life.The poem clearly demonstrates Frost's belief that it is the roads that one chooses that makes him the man who he is.

Many a time we will arrive at points where our road branches into many and being a 'single person' , we can choose only one. Like the traveller in Frost's poem,I have chosen the road less travelled and where it takes me is yet to be seen.And i know very well that one way leads to another and the roads not taken will eventually get too far away to be reconsidered

The traveller in Frost's poem realizes that at the end of his life,"Somewhere ages and ages hence" he will have regrets about having never gone back and travelled down the roads he did not take.Yet he remains proud of his decision and he recognises that it was this path that he chose that made him turn out the way he did and live his life the way in which he lived.

Like all computer engineers, I too could have got into programming and lived a 'secure' life in the IT world. "But I took the road less travelled and that had made all the difference"- is the only line from the poem that I want to hear from my own mouth when I am in my sixties.( In the positive sense, ofcourse!!..c'mon!..I'm always an optimist.) And how do I get there?

Three things to watch for-Speech, Behavior and Action
Three things to control-Tongue, Temper and Temptation
Three things to admire-Honesty, Perfection and Hardwork

This, i was told by a certain wise-sapien, is the secret formula for being a successful person. But other than these, there are three most important things in life that keep us going, no matter what: Love ,Faith and Hope.
I totally agree with this. But which of these is the most powerful?..is it love?.. is it faith?..or is it hope?.. Well, this has always been a debatable question.
Atleast some of you out there must have heard this story.- A mother gives birth to her son. Like all mothers, she too naturally loves him. She has faith in him and has high hopes that he will make it big someday. The son grows up to be an outlaw. He commits a lot of crimes. The mother loses her faith in him. She still doesn’t give up hope. She hopes that he might correct himself someday and things will finally be fine. But then the son commits a murder, gets busted and is finally sentenced to death. The day he is executed, the mother’s hope dies along with him. The only thing she carries to her grave is the love that she has for her son.
Whoever wrote this story wanted to prove that love is the strongest thing in the world. But is it true? I have a different opinion

Now, If what u have in mind is a question along the lines of “Whoz this crack-pot?” ,I guess it’s time for a lil’ self-introduction

I am a warrior set out on a quest to conquer his dreams .On my way I have lost many an armour, many a weapon. Many a time I have been deceived by ‘pseudos’ .But the force which helped me learn from my mistakes and find better weapons and armour to assist me on my quest was the hope that my dreams are gonna come true someday. It is hope that still keeps me focused .Even if I spend the whole of my life chasing my dreams, I believe I am gonna enjoy every minute of it.

What are my dreams?. … isn’t it a bit too early in the game to be discussing my dreams? After all, I’m just 22 and I really have a long long way to go.

- Kishore M (on 24-2-2005)