Dreams can come true!

Years ago, every time he would hear the roar of an aircraft flying overhead, he would rush out into the open. The boy, about 12 years old then, would intently look at the flying machine until it went out of sight. The lad - I would call him RV - would never tire of doing it again and again.

Two years passed but the phenomenon persisted. There were no signs of his interest in the flying bird abating. That made me inquisitive about exploring the reason behind this unusual fact.

As RV was closely related to me, I had an easy opportunity to probe his mind. So, one day, soon after he had seen an aeroplane, I made the lad sit comfortably near me. Very quietly, I asked him, "Sonny, why do you observe every passing aircraft?"

The boy stared at me with the same inquisitiveness that I had showed towards him. He did not reply to my query and turned his face away. But I could clearly see that he wanted to say something but perhaps could not frame his reply.

Seeing his dilemma, I put off my questioning. Nevertheless, his reticence only increased my curiosity. So, next time RV came back after watching an aircraft I virtually caught him and repeated the question.

The lad innocently asked me, "Was the aeroplane going to America?"

"I don't know. But why are you asking? Do you want to go there?", I posed a counter question.

"Yes", the boy replied promptly.

"Why?"

"I am told that people who go there make big money and bring it back home. I would also do so", the lad said with firmness in his voice.

Incidentally, at that time, there was not much traffic between India and that country. So, "US" or the "States" had not become household words. To many, it was America. The same was the case with UK which continued to be referred to as England or Great Britain as described in a popular school Atlas.

Later, the picture changed drastically. Today, we don't even say the "US" or the "UK" or "Canada". We simply refer to fellow Indians' places of residence in NY, LA, Toronto, Montreal, Southhall etc.

To a large number of Indians who have settled permanently and expanded their families there, these countries are now their home, rightly not their second home! In recent years, Australia has joined the ranks. Going back to RV's ambition to go to the US, I noticed that along with his growing age his urge was also getting stronger every day. He would meet and spend time with US, UK or Canada based Indians to collect maximum possible information and explore his prospects.

As a college student, RV tried his best to land employment but luck was not on his side. Even as he nurtured the ambition, RV got a job in a public sector bank and later got married.

Eventually, RV became father of a son and a daughter. The quest for going to the US was still raging inside him. A time came when he realised that he would not be able to make it to the US. Okay, if it was not him, his son would go there, RV seemed to have said to himself with determination.

Some time during that period, I had shifted to another city. When I met him after a long gap, I asked him about his son and daughter. RV replied with a sense of understandable pride, " ... my son got a job in the US and is settled there. In a year's time, [my] daughter would also migrate to the 'States' you know".

I lifted the cap I was wearing and told him, "Caps off to you, Sonny boy, for your great perseverance."

Maybe, some day, his son will call him to the US, nay for a brief period, making his unfulfilled dream come true.

The writer is a journalist based in India.