- tHOUghTs aBSoLveD -

“War may end, but the battle continues” So here I am, again. In spite of the piled up work and pressure of work surmounted on my head I took up this post. Almost for the last one month I came through so much of things which seem to be tightly coupled to each other but revealed me the only thing that I want to know. I dint joined the dots but when I look back now, the joined dots makes some sense. Or is it my mind which got into such illusion? Irrespective, I have an answer which is though not the final enlightenment I sought. This is the improvised version of the draft post “To Do or Don’t” as I mentioned in the Hibernation post. Everyone come across the situation of this “To Do” or “Don’t” at various point in their life. What counts for one doesn’t for the other but finally everyone makes a decision, have too. I do have funny decisions which I made not so in the past. My decision before I went back to India last December was “I am not going to make any decision until I go to India” Though its an act of escapism from reality, I am still normal human who would love to runaway from the reality for a small time in a hope to come back and face the reality with a stronger mind.

What about this “Living Your Dream – How Far You Will Go” “Tell me your dreams”? To point back exactly where it all started, it’s from the wish I made to my buddy on his birthday, continues with other incidence, experience I had in the short span of 1 month time and I hope it will continue further.

FIRST DOT: “Go. Just go behind your passion. Sometime it’s better to burn out rather than to fade away!”

More than a wish, this is something I keep telling myself nowadays. Of course there is a huge difference between my real passion considering what I have done so far and what I am doing now. Because I have convinced myself in the recent past, just like others to compromising for few other things. The real question now is, how far and how long I may have to compromise? Reading between the lines, it may be tough to understand the real meaning of the above statement. Examples are better than explanations. Aren’t they? Let me try!

Before I started this post, I read almost the entire life history of all the top 50 billionaires listed in the Forbes list of billionaires. Ok, some 5% odd of the entire top 100 billionaires were from wealthy background. Though all of them had different passions say Bill Gates with a passion towards software, Ingvar Kamprad towards retail, or anyone else in the list. What I see is, at some point I see there passion turned more towards making money or if that’s inappropriate I would say their passion paid off them with “Billions”.

Is that all? Is there were all the race ends? Money, more money, more and more money. I do agree that in today’s world money is one of the most important criteria and sometime it’s the most needed to achieve some of our dreams. Being said that, I do admire the great minds which made billions out of their passion. Now how about the other side of the coin? Those dare devil minds, to which I look up and say in simple terms “The way of life”. This is an article I read long back (I mean in the last one month).

A man called Michel Fournier aged 64. He is just another man but with a difference from all those billionaires. I admire this mind more than those minds which made billions. He is a French skydiver with more than 8000 jumps under his belt. But that’s not what I want to point out here. He set out last month on a mission to break four world records by free falling 40,000m (25 miles) from a balloon in Saskatchewan, western Canada. He hoped to bring back data vital for astronauts and those at high altitudes.

Now let’s get on to some more detail. This is not his first attempt. He made attempts in 2002 and 2003 which ended unfruitful when wind gusts shredded his balloon before it even became airborne. He has spent two decades and nearly $20 million in his quest to send him to the heavens in a stratospheric balloon. According to his Web site, Fournier sold virtually all his possessions to finance the launch of this project.

In an interview he said “This project is a great scientific and human challenge, and this is my baby, my dream. I just want to realise my dream.”

By this time you must have realized how risky the attempt could be. Free falling. OMG, I know how great it is to fly and free fall experience would be from my skydiving. But at this age from such a height, even if a small thing goes wrong the outcome would be catastrophic. Mr Fournier was to wear a pressurized suit to protect him from the extreme low pressure and temperatures down to -100C. Sophisticated camera equipment was supposed to record key moments of the jump, particularly when he break the sound barrier as he hurtles to Earth at more than 1,500 kilometers per hour.

As the saying goes, “Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.” Let me categorize them now.

Great minds: Michel Fournier + add the billionaire list in case you want.

Average minds: CNN, BBC, etc who covered up this article.

Small minds: STOP. It’s not so true that those minds which discuss people are always small.

I have this very habit of reading the comments section, whether its youtube or news or tech related stuff. What I gain by reading the comment is, I get an opportunity to analyze those minds which have discussed/expressed from their mind about the topic. This is the link related to this post and here is the comments in nutshell which I want to point out.

Now from the comments Christopher has said “These 20 million dollars would be better spent on starvation relief or real medical research than on one man’s vanity.” Does it make sense to you? If so answer this.

SECOND DOT: Long back (again in the one month gap) I had been to a café shop to meet my friend. As she was late and since I am no superman I went to the loo to answer the Nature’s call. And I found some sticker on the walls. After reading what’s written in that, I decided to take a snap shot of what’s written. In the mean time you can imagine the weirdest/wildest thing that could happen for a guy standing in the loo with a camera in his hand. Sorry about the bad photo from iPhone.

It reads “Did you know that with 12 billion euros we could have basic health service and food for everyone in the world… and same time the world spends 800 billion euros on weapon” Irony. (I do did some research on credibility of the amount mentioned. Yes it works out to be true)

So spending 20million by a person who knew his dream and having a determined mind to realize it, I would say there is no offense not just because I love adventures. There other side of the comment.

The comment I want to highlight is “Doom’s”. It was well said. “This story is not about how different people should spend money. This story is about a man living his own life to the fullest. As long as people do not use money to actively hurt others, I would never suggest to anybody how to spend money.”

It doesn’t stop there. I made RSS feeder so that next day I can get the update about his attempt. Fortunately or unfortunately his attempt to break the world free fall record failed to get off the ground when his balloon lifted off without him on board. He saw his balloon going up the sky leaving him beside. The balloon cost nearly US$400,000 (€253,800) and Fournier was said to have already exhausted his finances. But he said he will bring two balloons next time.

In an interview after the failure he said “It was like having a hammer over my head, when it doesn’t work like that you just cannot think of anything. You just say, ‘How come it didn’t work?’ I am not giving up” adding that the crew will test the part and aim for another launch in late August 2008.

THIRD DOT: I came across so many times people saying to me “Everything happens for a reason” Is there a reason for his failure? In the last one month I had some bitter experience and again the same consoling. I know few who got lost in trying to find that reason. But I read this in one my friend’s post.

“I am going to say this only once. I dont want to say more than what I want to. Miracles exist. Magik exist. And if you wait your turn, while not too worried about what’s going to happen, and really and truly let go and enjoy the here and now, and did not compromise by taking up what you know you wont enjoy just to have something; it will come knocking on to your door, without notice, without hurry or delay. And it will be exactly what you want and need, and what you then decided was too good to exist and forgot with a regretful shrug.
And when it does, the only thing to be done is to go with the flow, and murmur a prayer in thanks to whoever delivered it.”

Though she said only once, to my knowledge I have read it N times.

FOURTH DOT: Today I replied back to my buddy’s post “inconsequential spec” as follow concordant with his views.

“things happens and NOT everything happens for a reason… its WE who give a reason to all the happening arnd us, in an attempt to make a reasoning which could keep us in a comfort zone, no matter what happened… to an extent everyone needs a comfort zone but seldom few i have met who are ready to face the reality… Fruits… hmmm… enuf of dreaming abt ur life… It’s time to go and live ur dreams now!”

Now, Tell me your dreams and also tell me how far you will go for your dream? What kind you are? Are you the one who let it go compromising “Everything happens for a reason” or the one who “Keep going considering at the right time it will come to you” or someone “who take the approach not to find a reason just to convince yourself rather accept the reality” or what else?

In this money savvy world still there are people who are ready to let that money go for their dream, passion. I don’t mean everyone should have such a passion, dream which are adventurous or something which would make them to go bankrupt. The point here is what ever may be your dream, passion, how small how big they are to others, it doesn’t matter. Go. Just go behind your passion. And remember there are always people who say DO and those who say DON’T about your passion/dream. One mans food is always another mans poison. What’s more important is to know whether its food or poison to yourself. Finally it’s every individual who has to play their game in this field of life. May be you can compromise, keep on compromising till the end of your life. But remember we are not born again and again.

So if you don’t have any dreams go to bed now. I will try to come up with a visual treat in my next post.

Dot’s and connections continues… And i am learning!

Tags: Adventure, From my experience..., Inspirational, Mera GYAN, Random rambles //