A CONTINUANCE TO : THE VISION

The children open a door of memories to your own childhood; a time when you expended with homework in the least possible time to race off to play with your friends, when tables were loads of elements to be memorized and recited over and over again, when the teacher gave you a stern look if you spoke out of turn or asked a bold question, and proclaimed that you were a wild kid who would have to be tamed! Then there were those rare teachers who put a smile on your face every time they entered the classroom; who inspired you to dream big and believe in yourself, who taught you to play with numbers and skip on the rainbow all they way to the moon; just to examine if the earth was flat or round!
A tantalizing aroma of coffee jerks you out of your reveries as you approach a glass structure that is glinting in the morning sunlight. An array of electric scooters and bicycles line the side of the glass cafe that is bursting with activity, it is called Ambrosia. The interior is surprisingly cool, and the serving area is dominated by a jolly, rotund man who is flanked on both sides by busy attendants. The customers are a curious mix of early morning joggers, sleepy-eyed students, lounging elderlies, chirpy kids, alert businessmen, dreamy artists and even a few construction workers! You wonder as to how the workers can afford a cafe that looks like it was sprayed with the colors of the rainbow; you wonder what such tough and roughened men could find in common with the the white collared executive they were chatting with as casually as if they were talking to an old friend, you wonder as to how those men could look at home in an environment you found yourself so much in awe of! You move closer and eavesdrop on the conversation going on among the men and the executive. You can't help but be shocked as you confront the fact that two of the men so casually dressed in overalls are well respected employees of a multinational company, and had donned the attire of blue collared laborers as they were going to help the actual construction workers build their own homes. The group huddled around a blueprint exudes an aura of suppressed excitement that is so unusual among adults that you find yourself smiling at their enthusiasm. As you watch the men pat each other on the back and exchange encouraging words, you find yourself wanting to be a part of a team that is so self willed and united; you find yourself aching to be a part of the adventure that the men are embarking upon, you find yourself eager to be ordered about by a few construction workers that you once considered beneath your station! The beauty of the situation startles you as you realize why the men who belong in an office as surely as a fish belongs in the sea were so excited to be in a domain that was so unfamiliar to them. They had been transformed into two young boys who were full of vigor and zeal to learn something new, to explore a whole new world that had just opened up before them. They were unafraid of making mistakes, because of the assurance that they would definitely make many! But the difference was that they would be free to laugh at their mistakes, make the appropriate changes and move on; they were unburdened of the fears that so many adults laden themselves with. They were free of the fear of failure, they were untouched by self-doubt or greed, they were motivated only by the desire to create their own home with their own hands, and that made all the difference in the world!

TO BE CONTINUED