“Don’t part with your illusions. When they are gone, you may still exist. But you’ve ceased to live.”
Whose words of wisdom are these? The collectors of famous sayings and quotable quotes will instantly say:
Mark Twain
Yes. Mark Twain it was who at some point of his life came to the conclusion that ‘heart-breaking developments couldn’t be allowed to shape one’s remaining years of life, and that life was meant to be lived with certain goals, hopes and beliefs even if these turned out to be nothing but illusions.
I have no qualms in confessing that most of my life has been dominated by the illusions I created in my mind, nurtured, harboured and lived with. The reason I, even at 72, am still overflowing with youthful optimism is that I have doggedly refused to abandon my illusions, and to get into the Realism Mode.
The ground realities have never been able to influence my optimistic beliefs. I have always held a firm faith that there is a turnaround waiting for us round the corner.
It was quite a shock for a while when it was revealed that the nation had got rid of General (r) Pervez Musharraf only to find itself being ruled by none other than Zardari.
But instead of allowing this shock to divest me and my life of the illusions, I have held dear since October 1958, I soon gathered in my mind all the strength I needed to begin a new journey of hope.
There have been moments of despair in these years, as had been in half a century before this phase, but I have never failed to defeat this despair with the reservoirs of hope and resolve I happen to carry in my soul.
My first illusion had been that Pakistan would be transformed into an Asian power by the forces of change that had prevailed in October 1958.
Since then it has been a journey through one or the other illusion.
As I’ve said I have no qualms about being illusion-prone. As a student of history I know about the power of an illusion. Every great change in history began with an illusion.
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