What u wanted to become?

Even on non-rainy days, Thilagavathy teacher would come with a yellow umbrella. On the first day of the class, she asked us “After finishing your studies, what are you going to become?

Kavitha and Vanitha who never leave the first bench to anyone said “Doctor” in a chorus. Today Kavitha is standing in the ration shop queue after getting married and having children.

I see Vanitha occasionally and she is seen sending her children with a comb in her hair.

“Iam going to be an engineer” said L.Suresh kumar, but left the school in between and weaving silk looms.

Everyone laughed when last bench N Rajesh said “I will look after my father’s iron’s shop”. Today he works as a Doctor in New Jersey and doing his research in Microbiology.

Augustin Chellababu, who surprised everyone saying that “I will become a Pilot” wrote government exams and is a government servant.

I said “I will become an atomic scientist” and Iam writing songs for movies.

The wind of life took us all in different directions. Only Fat Suresh said “I will become a teacher” and he works as a teacher in the same school where we all studied.

I asked Suresh, you are the only one just doing what u wanted to do and how are you?

His hands were with chalk powder and he held my hand and said “I never ask my students what you want to become?”

The above article was written by Na.Muthukumar, the two times Indian national award winning poet from Tamil Nadu, India and he is known for his wonderful lyrics. Unfortunately, God took him back at a very early age from this world.

The words what he had written is so true, when we see that happen in most of our lives. We dream to become one in childhood and rather we become another. Only very few in this world become what they dreamt to become in their childhood.

In schools, generally they ask what you want to become in future. I remember a funny incident in my second standard class in seventh day Adventist school, the teacher asked the same question to all of us. All answered and when my turn came up, I said “I want to become a Thief minister. The whole class erupted in laughter since “Instead of Chief Minister, I had said Thief Minister”. May be I might have had the foresight about the current political system in my second standard class itself? And I could not even become a “Thief Minister” is another story.

We can see in great personalities about this phenomenon. Mahatma Gandhji was interested in becoming a doctor, sailed for London, England, to study law.  He was thrown out of the train at the railway station in South Africa in 1893, after he was objected travelling in the first class coach even though he had a valid first-class ticket and later went to become the Father of the nation and lead the Indian Freedom struggle. 

The 664-run stand in Mumbai school cricket between Vinod Kambli and Sachin Tendulkar made headlines around the world. In Indian cricket, a name that stands out is Vinod Kambli. The man was more talented than Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin Tendulkar went on to become the God of Cricket in India but Vinod Kambli, could not live up and faded from the scene.

For former President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, becoming a fighter pilot was a dearest dream and was desperate to pursue a career in flying but he failed to qualify by a whisker as he bagged the ninth position and only eight slots were available with IAF [Indian Air Force]. “Sometime you don’t get what you want.” He has written in his book “My journey: transforming dreams into actions”. I had failed to realize my dream of becoming an air force pilot and he says, he walked around for a while till he reached the edge of a cliff before deciding to go to Rishikesh and seek a new way forward.

And then he bumped into Swami Sivananda in Rishikesh and he said, “Accept your destiny and go ahead with your life. You are not destined to become an Air Force Pilot. What you are destined to become is not revealed now but is predetermined. Forget this failure as it was destined to bring you to the right path. Search, instead, for the true purpose of your life. Become one with yourself, my son! Surrender yourself to God,”

A boy selling newspaper in the morning in Rameshwaram, a coastal city in Tamil Nadu, became a scientist and years later he drove a fighter plane as a President of the country.

Is that before we enter into this world, we see the blueprint of our life as souls and the blue print get erased when we enter into the womb of our mother and slowly during the course of our life, the blue print appears in reality stage by stage? In Spirituality, it is believed like that.

Intellectuals do not agree with the spiritual concept. General saying is that back benchers in the school flourish more in future rather than the front benchers. The front seated intelligent students are always programmed for success and not to face failure or adversity in life and hence they fizzle out and the back bench average and academically poor students later swim across the difficulties of life and take failures as a route to squeeze up. Similar to how a water stands still in the lake or pond and how water rushes through the rocks of a waterfall.

Whatever we become, let us be humble, helping and contribute to the mankind and society.

So, are you spiritual or an intellectual? Did you become what you wanted to?

Note-The images given for representation in this blog are taken from Google / Unsplash Images. Many thanks for Google & Unsplash