Francis Gonsalves

Only students securing 100 per cent marks are to be admitted into Delhi’s prestigious colleges. This news sent shivers down the spine of the brightest of students. Fortunately, there’s no cut-off mark in my college; for many of my students with low marks have made their mark in life more meritoriously than those who’ve secured the highest. Many of these not-so-bright students have thought big and dreamt big.
The Bible is full of dreams, dreamers, visions and visionaries. In what could be called a “divine dream”, God conceives of a most beautiful cosmos and wants us to be co-creators with Him. God also breaks into human experience through dreams and visions: appearing to Jacob in a dream and calling Samuel to be a prophet through a vision.
In Genesis, Joseph dreams of greatness and soon becomes a famous interpreter of dreams. He interprets the dreams of prisoners and of powerful Pharaoh and is consequently appointed governor of Egypt. In the Gospels, Joseph, the foster-father of Jesus, receives divine revelations through dreams.
World religions promote dreams and visions of community; for example, Hinduism proposes Ram rajya as an ideal state of society and Lord Krishna gives Arjuna a vishvarupa darshan of the cosmos. Jesus preached the “Reign of God” wherein all people would live as God’s children. Christians also envision a “new creation in Christ”.
Psychologists have theorised about dreams. In his seminal work, The Interpretation of Dreams, Freud argued that the stimulus for dreams is often found in the “residues of the day” and are forms of wish-fulfilment. Dreams arise from one’s unconsciousness and tell us about ourselves, our latent desires and repressed needs.
Speaking of wish-fulfilment, there are those who dream of doing great things and leave no stone unturned to achieve them. Former Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Azad wisely wrote, “A dream is not what you see in your sleep, but is something which does not let you sleep!” When most mortals were content with walking, the Wright brothers looked up to the skies and designed wings to fly. Indeed, most inventors dare to dream big dreams and translate them into reality by dint of hard work.
Quixotic! From Spanish novelist Miguel Cervantes comes this adjective that summarises who his creation Don Quixote — the Man of La Mancha — is: a crazy visionary, pursuing lofty but seemingly unattainable ideals. His theme song The Impossible Dream goes like this:
To dream the impossible dream,
To fight the unbeatable foe,
To bear with unbearable sorrow,
To run where the brave dare not go...
To strive, when my arms are too weary,
To reach the unreachable star...
This is my quest, to follow that star,
No matter how hopeless, no matter how far,
To be willing to give, when there’s no more to give;
To be willing to die, so that honour and justice may live...
History has innumerable examples of personalities who have dreamt seemingly impossible dreams and even sacrificed their lives to translate them into reality. In 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr, prophesised before thousands of Afro-Americans: “I have a dream that one day in the red hills of Georgia the children of former slaves and those of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.”
Mahatma Gandhi often spoke about the “India of my dreams” wherein “the poorest shall feel that this is their country... an India in which there shall be no high class and no low class... in which all communities shall live in perfect harmony.” Likewise, Dr B.R. Ambedkar laboured for a casteless society. Will their dreams be realised by you and me?
Beware! Dreams can also be illusionary as shown by the proverbial Gauri, the dreamer or Sheikh Chilli, who build castles in thin air without any work. We need to dream with our feet on solid earth. Although Don Quixote, too, was a caricature of medieval chivalry, the words of his song The impossible dream continue to captivate me.
These days, many of us — myself included — are beginning a new academic year in schools and colleges. Why not think big and dream the impossible for ourselves, our students, our country and our world? Yes, I have a dream. Do you?

— The author is the principal of the Vidyajyoti College of Theology, Delhi. He is involved in interfaith dialogue and
peoples’ initiatives for fostering justice, harmony and peace. He can be contacted at fragons@gmail.com