Youth and time

What is it about being young that makes all of us crave for and desperately cling to it?
Okay, a great-looking body, a sharp mind and opportunities galore, not to mention energy and enthusiasm to do what the mind wills. But beyond all this, is the promise of possibility.

Gaurav Sabnis has reminisced about his childhood in
this post.


When I was in middle school, I dreamt I could build a Giant Robot just like they showed in a Japanese serial on TV. With my friend, I drew the form of Giant Robot in the mud and fantasized about a real robot tearing the ground out, fire raging underneath, as I called out : "Come on, Giant Robot".

I dreamt that I was a great scientist, who made my parents and teachers proud. I saw myself as a detective, investigating mysteries a la Nancy Drew and the Famous Five.

When I was a kindergarten child, I wanted to be an astronaut - the inspiration came from another series on dear old Doordarshan, called "Fireball":).

Another time, I wished to be the successor to the legendary gymnast Nadia Comaneci or to Steffi Graf! By the time I was twelve, I knew I was too old to be bent and curled up like a rubber ball.

As I grew older, I saw many of my ambitions burn away slowly into nothingness as reality set in, slowly but surely. At every stage, I knew I had crossed one more milestone, one more threshold and I could not go back into the room I had left behind. Once I was in college, the opportunity to be school topper was gone and the chance to be teen sleuth, too. Once out of college, the opportunity to be the college all-rounder was gone (though I did have my fill of extra-curricular activities).

Once I was 24, the possibilty of being Miss India was gone (the ad says you have be under 23). A few years down the line and the dream of being a mother will be a pipe-dream.

Slowly but surely, the possibilities shrink, you seem to go into a never land..but then, perhaps, newer opportunities light up on the way, rare gems that only an eye exposed to experience and the mind that has absorbed wisdom, can perceive. Wisdom to distinguish between reality and fantasy, wisdom that time is short and one needs to do the very best to reach one's goals and make something of meaning of this existence..and the knowledge that the end is steadily approaching..


It's finally what you do with your time that matters, no matter what your age is.
So, Carpe Diem !