The Unfulfilled Ambition

Written by  //  September 16, 2015  //  Reflections  //  No comments

Mukul: “Papa, mujhe neta banna hai. Yeh desh badalna hai.”

Papa: “Haan beta! Tum banoge. I can see that spark in you.”

What exactly is this spark which the encouraging father is referring to? On what basis did he reach this conclusion? Is he misleading Mukul into believing something that is probably not true? Or is he himself being misled? The answers to these questions will probably become clear if one probes deeper into the life of our protagonist.

Mukul is a kid who who talks, eats and sleeps politics. He scores reasonably well in his school examinations and participates in extra-curriculars day in and day out. Further, he is a certified stud in his school, a certification which came not only from his peers but from elders alike. Come the board examinations and without a doubt, he aces this as well. He can thus see his dream of becoming a neta coming true, given his glittery credentials. In pursuance of this dream, he decides to sit for the entrance examination of one of the best law schools in the country, considering law to be a gateway to politics and clears it with flying colours. One would hardly require the services of a soothsayer to predict his journey in the college of his dreams, which, as one would expect, was full of accolades.

Thus, it is not entirely wrong to blame the father for goading Mukul into believing that he’ll become a neta at some future point of time. This is a kid who claims to have mastered the system, so what can possibly stop him from fulfilling his dreams?

Unfortunately, Mukul could never have imagined that it would be this mastery over the system that would precisely be a hurdle in him pursuing his dreams.

Mukul soon realises that he is not the only one who claims to have mastered the system. There are thousands like him with the same credentials – bright, talented and smart. The only difference is that they are not netas. Nevertheless, such people are recognised as successful by the society. Entry to this elite club is coveted by one and all as the membership of such a club guarantees one the privilege of leading a comfortable life, a life full of respect, a life comparatively free of tensions, a life guaranteeing security and a life full of that much sought after fruit called happiness.

Come the moment when our protagonist has to make a choice! As was expected, Mukul did receive the golden letter from the coveted club; a letter congratulating him for having made it so far; a letter promising him a gateway to a life full of pleasures; a letter which comes but once in a lifetime. However, our protagonist, who was by now a mature adult, wasn’t entirely happy, so to say. His childhood dream of becoming a neta flashed in front of his eyes. Should he risk the opportunity he had in hand at that moment to pursue his childhood dream? Was it worth the effort? Isn’t netagiri meant for uneducated people? Aren’t smarter people like him made for bigger things, such as being a member of the coveted club mentioned above? Plus, what guarantee did he have that he will succeed in politics? Facing such a dilemma, he consulted his peers, one of whose comments was, “I never expected a smart person such as you Mukul, to entertain such foolish thoughts in the first place.” He then spoke to his father, the same old encouraging father who saw the spark in him to be a neta once. “Aisi bachkaani batein mere saamne mat karo! You are a man now. Think like a man”, was the reply.

Thus, with a heavy heart, our protagonist accepted the invitation to join the coveted club, consoling himself by thinking that he was probably foolish to entertain the thought of becoming a neta in the first place; that the thought was probably the product of his immaturity, an immaturity that did not take into account the harsh realities of life. Of course, why would anyone as bright as him risk his entire educational career to plunge into something which did not guarantee success?

Little did he realise that his childhood dream essentially required him to break out of this system, the system that he had been trying to master for these many years; little did he realise that his childhood dream was for becoming a lion rather than for winning the rat race and still ending up as a rat; little did he realise that inspite of all his abilities, he lacked the one core element required to transform himself from a rat to a lion – that of COURAGE.

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