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The wishing game

Last Updated 07 August 2017, 18:39 IST
I’m sure most of you would have noticed — as we grow older, we get prone to reminiscing and letting videos of the past play in our minds. I never thought it would happen to me, but I guess it happens to even the best!

One evening, I was feeling particularly maudlin. Perchance, the second glass of my favourite poison had something to do with that. Well, anyhow, my mind wandered into the past — to a game we used to play as children.

The wishing game was a popular one for us school kids. It was a game of question-answer, where the accolades went to the one whose answer was the best. And best — when we were that young and innocent — meant whosoever’s answer was the wittiest and most wonderful. And the most preposterous! The question was simple: if God granted you a wish — any wish — what would you ask for?

As I’m sure you’ve already guessed, our juvenile tongues gave vent to answers that bordered from downright funny to outlandish. Some said, ‘I would wish that I was the President of India so that I can banish poverty!’ Others said, ‘I would want to be a king and have different cars to ride in every day.’ Still others said, ‘I would ask to be the first to meet an alien being!’

You may call these desires silly, and I today — two decades out of school and a million times wiser — would agree with you wholeheartedly. Yet, when one was young, what was wrong in yearning to marry Princess Diana or wanting to be the reincarnation of Gandhi? All that longing was only in fun, wasn’t it? Just a harmless game children liked to play and occupy themselves with.

However, that evening, I suddenly remembered this game and thought, ‘What if someone out there really had the power to satisfy any wish?’ This might sound absurd, but then wasn’t life itself absurd? What if someone or something came to me and said: ‘I grant you one wish. And whatever you desire will come true!’

As soon as this thought entered my head, my mind started racing. Should I wish to be a rockstar? I had always harboured secret thoughts of belting out Stairway to Heaven on stage! Or should I ask to be a writer, as famous (and scary) as Stephen King? Maybe, I should be a politician; that’s where the money is these days. Or...the CEO of a software company designing products for the future of our planet?

As these ludicrous thoughts roamed around my head, suddenly, along with remembering the wishing game, I recalled something else. And my desire immediately became crystal clear in my mind. If given the chance, all I would wish for is to go back into the past and tell my parents: Thank you for everything. I love you.
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(Published 07 August 2017, 18:39 IST)

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