I want to be BATMAN!

He sat on the last bench and didn’t talk to anybody. The girl beside her tried to sneak in out of curiosity and he pulled her hair hard. She screamed in pain and the teacher came running. She asked his name and he simply snubbed her, he was busy scribbling something in his note book. She pulled the notebook, forcibly and he gave a stern furious gaze at her. The teacher snapped at him but smiled realizing that he was just a three year old chubby little kid. She was rather amused to see when at his age, kids struggled to draw a mango; he had something meaningful to offer or was it? 

He returned home after the first day at school with the same thought which had hit most of us- School Sucks. He threw the bag and ran to his dad, he loved him very much. For his dad also, he was his life. His dad hugged and pulled him up to his lap and asked the expected question.

‘How was the school?’

He almost had his answer ready. ‘I don’t want to go to this school. I want to learn karate, I want to ride bike, I want to jump from a building and I want to beat Joker. I want to become BATMAN.’
His dad smiled at him and said. ‘To be Batman, don’t you think you should know how to read and write? I mean how you would read the newspaper and know about the crime. How you would leave message for police. For that you need to go school and learn ABCD. You should even know the numbers else how would count your enemies.’

He agreed. He went to school happily from next day.

He was admitted to primary school after three years. His dad went to drop him. He didn’t seem happy about it.

‘What’s the matter son?’ His dad asked.

‘Dad I know ABCD and I can even write. You see I can spell refrigerator and could recite tables till ten. Can I become Batman now?’

His dad smiled again. ‘I would rather suggest you to learn history, geography and science. It will make you to understand this world, its environment and the people. Go, make friends, play with them and have fun. Trust me, that gonna help you.’
He didn’t say anything and walked inside the school building.

Five more years after that, he was sitting on the dining table making strange noise with his spoon scrabbling it on the plate just to draw attention. His mom scolded him twice but he didn’t care. His dad at the other side of the table reading the newspaper had already sensed his intuition.

‘Look son, I think you should play some sport in school. Get yourself fit and strong. Moreover, knowledge is always there in school. You see with great power comes great responsibility, I want you to be prepared for that.’

‘I hate Spiderman.’ He screamed, took his bag and ran for school.

At the farewell of his school when every other student was feeling the lump in throat for leaving behind the best days of life and getting into the so called race of life, he seemed rather joyful and energized. Might be excited for the Junior College life ahead, everybody thought.

‘Son, Physics, Chemistry and Biology, you need them, don’t you? For that perfect jump from the sky scrapers, for that smoke tablet which will make you disappear, for that weak point in the body which will dismantle your enemy. You have to do this.’ His dad explained.

This time he wasn’t actually impressed by his Dad’s tactics. He locked himself in his room and when he came out for dinner, he was astounded to find a new bike parked inside his house compound. He wasn’t sure to whom it belonged but was enamored by the machine.

‘You can ride this thing to your College.’ His dad threw the keys at him.
He didn’t argue, he was thrilled.

 Two more years of mixing different chemicals with H2SO4  and HCL, taking readings of tuning forks, drawing the various parts of human body and solving Derivations and Integrations, he was ready for engineering; that’s what his dad thought.

‘I am going nowhere.’ He declared.

‘Are you sure?’ His Dad asked and he returned him a cold stare. ‘Didn’t you see those cool gadgets with him, those little bombs in his pockets and that technology filled car? I think BATMAN is an electronic engineer.’

He smiled and filled the online form. After two months, he was in a lab, copying readings and graphs from an old journal stolen from staff room.

Four years of rigorous torture with mock tests on Monday, surprised tests in between, assignments for every night, journals in every lab and if Maths was just not enough, there was Mechanics, Basic Electrical and Engineering Drawing denying them any sort of existence as a human being.

He gave his final paper, ran out of the exam hall. He spread his arms and took a long breath, he was done with everything.

His dad hugged him.

‘Dad!’

‘What?’ His Dad looked into his eyes. ‘Don’t tell me, you still want to become BATMAN.’

He snapped at his Dad ‘Why not?’

‘Hmm.’ His Dad grunted. He had a strange grin on his face as he walked to the other room shaking his head. His son couldn’t read that. Anyway, he was at least happy that he was free now. He can do anything. He can become BATMAN.
He started the internet and googled his idol. He opened the first link and started to read but as he just finished the first paragraph, he noticed something on the first line. He couldn't believe it. He read it again and again but nothing changed. He might have read that page over a thousand times all these years and realized that he had always ignored it. How was that possible?
 
BATMAN is a comic character.

So, that’s it! His only aim life was never to be happening in reality. He felt foolish; he was chasing a dream which was so stupid. But was he really wrong? How many of us have seen God but don’t we believe in him and worship him? He was down, he was upset. He felt like a loser. He sat in the corner of his room and curled himself, he remained there all night.

Next morning when his Mom called him, he felt a pain his back because of lying on the floor. He had got cold since he didn’t even cover himself with a blanket. His eyes were blood red, he had been crying for long. Looking at the mirror, he felt ashamed of himself for acting so idiotic all his life. He felt sorry for his Dad and was embarrassed to face him. He asked his Mom to get his breakfast inside his room, something which had never happened. His Dad has sensed something was definitely wrong; he entered his room and saw the BATMAN poster torn down. He thought to talk to him but then he felt his son was big enough to handle it own.

‘I think you should get a girlfriend.’ He said.

He slept all day and in the evening when he came outside for tea, his Mom told him that he had a mail. He checked, it was from some company and as he opened the envelope he recalled that it was the same company, he had applied for in the college campus interviews. He was selected.

That actually brought a smile on his dull face after a long time. He went to his room to get the file which had all his academics documents which he might need for the formalities. One by one, he checked them all and he was quite amused to trace his life through those certificates.

He had won his first prize in a drawing competition when he was in 1st grade. He was a part of the volley team which had qualified for state levels. He had won the annual school quiz competition every year. He had topped his class in 3rd and 5th (When Maths was easy). He was the captain of Red house. He had a medal in sack race and even part of the dance group which were winners in the annual gathering of his Jr. College. He hit the most sixes in the University Champs finals. His final year project earned him highest marks in that year batch. He could play few chords on guitar and had published two novels.

He felt happy and proud reading them all along as he knew that there were even more to follow. There is no harm in chasing dreams, even if they appear unreal; at least the efforts you put on to achieve them will make reach the moon if not the stars.

He now works in a major IT company and is now quite active in Facebook talking about his upcoming novels where he shares his experience in the corporate world. But ask him what he want to do ahead in life, he will smile and say.

‘I want to become BATMAN.’