Of Dreams

The two girls looked at me.

I kept on looking at my plate and pretended that I'm busy eating rather that eavesdropping on their conversation.

Which was,by the way,not true.

So the girls continued. One three year old and the other,four.

"Tu badhe hokar kia banegi?" (What will you become when you grow up?),asked the four year old to the three year old.

"Mmmm... Doctor!",she said with eyes as wide as moon. 

Then was her turn to ask,"Aur tu?"(And you?),inquisitive of her answer.

"IAS",was her prompt reply. So the four year old looked smarter to me because,firstly,she atleast knew what an IAS is and what great position it holds.

"Ayen, kya...IS? (Aye,what? IS?),was the babbling tone of the three year old,she couldn't figure the 'A' between the IAS. So cute! I thought,and kept looking at them as I was dining. They were sitting right infront of me and their mothers were busy somewhere else so they left them in my custody.

Now was the turn of the four year old to explain the greatness of IAS to that tiny kid. What her explanation really was left me in knots.

"Arre IAS! Unko bohot paisa milta hai" (Its IAS idiot! They earn a lot of money) "Haawwww!",came the reply of the young curious.

"Aur khane ko bhi bohot kuch milta hai!" (And also get lots of good thing to eat.)

Even a bigger "HAWWWW". It was too much for a three year old to handle. Her surprise for money and food were visibly seen.

"Okay I will become an artist",declared the younger girl. Smart,I thought. So the three  year old knows what noble profession being an artist is. Now I was on the three year old's side.

"Artists earn a lot of money but they don't get anything to eat.",said the seemingly-more-intelligent girl,busy drinking her glass of soft drink.

On hearing this,the three old became sad and her face gloomed. "Okay,I will also become an IAS...".

"Yes ,you also become an IAS, they get lots of money and they get to travel and get new dresses and lots of good food." She was luring her towards her choice of profession and the younger one ,easily followed.

After this,I dropped on their cute conversation. And I was left in my own thoughts...

"What do you want to become when you grow up,Shimmer?",somebody had asked me once.

"Astronaut!",I would beam as I would reply.

And in the next grade,my answer would change to "Pilot!"

And further,the answers varied to Teacher, Scientist,Software engineer,IFS Officer, Chef to Journalist,and many more which my mind can't remember.

And I came back to present and looked at today's scenario: Graduate, married, housewife. This was my today. This is what I became. Not an astronaut,pilot or even a teacher. No,nothing of that.

And when I looked again at those two girls right infront of me,they were still talking but I was following on them no more. I was praying deep in my heart that they become what they so nicely plan,they fulfill what they dream of and may their parents never put the thought of marriage before their precious dreams. May they become IAS (or whatever they want to be!),they earn lots of money and May they always get good food to eat.

If they have something as an ambition,may they reach for it,and these prayers came straight from my heart.