Speaker of the Year..?Not really...

Folks,

I break to you a news you may be aware of (I hope that is the case for I observe with delight that my popularity levels have shot up across schools in the twin cities in 24 hours!) Below is the transcript of my speech that saw me fall tantalizingly short of being crowned the Speaker of the Year. I finished agonizingly 2^nd owing to a rather remarkable performance by my good friend Anant Kaushik, a class XII student from the Chinmaya Vidyalaya. Decide for yourself if my script was good enough. Here it is...

[Tere Bina Tere Bina..Lagta Nahin Mera Jiya…Ab Tere Siva Chale Meri Saansein Naarein Na…]

Hang on…what am I doing? WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING? Ah..wait…I’m supposed to be dreaming…this is what can be called ‘dreaming of an entirely different kind’…and yeah, speaking of dreams, I had one last night; an exhilarating one, which came true. Reality of dreams isn’t impossible, you see. I dreamt last night that I would be walking up through this staircase, strutting ostentatiously onto this very august dais and enlightening you precocious folk on dreaming. Look for yourself…it’s come true..!

I remember watching an extraordinary film a few days ago, which taught me to dream…to dream big, for it is the dreams that achievements follow and not obnubilate mists of indecisiveness. Dreams are yardsticks and lodestars, without which pursuits of transcendence may very well be equated to long hard voyages in enormous seas without compasses and fuel.

If someone came up to me and yelled loudly for dozing off and dreaming, I’d be flummoxed at the utter delusion. A stern Mom tells her innocent child, “Will you keep dreaming all through your life or will you achieve something atleast?” If you live your dreams, you'll never have to wake up. It is natural for each and every one of us to adopt an outlook of vitriol and hostility towards this very effective, and yet ostensibly ‘shameful’ phenomenon of ‘dreams’…how I wish that changed...

A dreamer is one who can find his way by moonlight, and see the dawn before the rest of the world. Dreams are the touchstones of our characters, unique and potent in nature; unique enough to zap the world when they know of it; potent enough to get you to pinnacles of incomprehendible levels.

All great men and women to have walked on Planet Earth got to where they did with the invaluable aid of discerned visions and relentless perseverance. The intuition for all the accomplishments of mankind has been a spark of imagination-a flicker that did as much as powerfully driving them to thresholds unseen and unheard of.

It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live. It is imperative for each and every one of us here in this capacity crowd to bear in mind the reality that dreams are mere candles in a dark tunnel. All they do is illuminate the path to glory. The travel to the goal will not be easy. It will demand complete and perfect synchrony of discernment, resilience, grit, tact and perseverance. Getting there will probably make us realize the contribution of that invaluable spark of intuition…

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. Let us go beyond the ordinary. Let us renounce the shackles of reticence and restraint. Let us explore, dream, discover and conquer.

A great man once greatly said, “Dreams aren’t those that you get during sleep…dreams are those that ensure you don’t sleep.”

I wish earnestly that I could end by saying,”Reality is non-existent. Dreams are reality.”

Have a nice dream.

…and until then, I’ll get back to doing what I love doing the most…

[Tere Bina Tere Bina..Lagta Nahin Mera Jiya…Ab Tere Siva Chale Meri Saansein Naarein Na …]

MY PERSPECTIVE ON ALL OF IT:-

In my view, I spoke well (or as people are saying…’awesome’ly…). The moment I finished my thingy, I was singing merrily off the stage (which I had planned to do earlier…but emotions flowed with seamless spontaneity and made it seem entirely impromptu). I was certain that I had pocketed the most coveted award in my book and had become the best orator in the twin cities. A natural feeling of unparalleled ecstasy swept over me as I took with zest the first row seat that was meant for me gazing around at the capacity crowd, most of whom hadn’t stopped applauding. I wasn’t in high spirits for listening though…I half had the urge of doing a horribly hopeless ‘moonwalk’ out of sheer delirium, but thankfully enough, my conscience knew when to poke it’s nose in. But ‘the moonwalk’ of the day was the one that stole the thunder and pretty much all of my joy. It was a thunderstorm that blew away the air within me and rendered me lifeless, speechless and breathless. Whatever happened ensured I would end up yet again as the ‘challenger’ and the perpetual ‘champion in waiting’…I’ve had this agony for a longtime now—that of being a promising young talent who’s capable of great things. I’ve always been told after finishing second in countless competitions now, that I had performed ‘extraordinarily well’ on all of those occasions. I have had enough of this dross of being ‘extraordinary’ and not conquering the pinnacle of competition. I had hoped and half believed yesterday was the day the script of my life thus far would be rewritten for good. It wasn’t.