Dreams: Sky is the limit

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe. – Anatole France, French poet

Dreams, dreams and dreams, says the song ‘All I Have To Do Is Dream’ by the Everly Brothers.

Elvis also did an inspiring number ‘If I Can Dream’.

But it is not just about songs as there are dreams and nightmares too. One’s dream is about aiming to achieve or get something in the future — near or distant — but there are occurrences in your dreams or dreaming that are unexpected.

During my young days I did not dream about becoming anything, though while being in Form V (1972) I did put on my desk a special paper board with my name bearing a LLB at the end — and in 1975 I was accepted to do Law at London University via ITM Shah Alam which was a dream come true but instead I chose to do a teaching degree elsewhere.

A Form Five classmate must have a dream (an aim) when he had his left hand tattooed with the word TRISTRAM BOY but regretted it years later when he was nearly rejected as a Malaysian army recruit.

In Form Six, a girl wrote in my special booklet that she aimed to be PM. Rohani Abdul Karim (now Datuk Seri and Batang Lupar MP) almost achieved her dream when becoming the federal Minister of Women, Family and Community Development.

Sait Ahmad who aspired to be Customs officer surpassed his dream when he was made director of Inland Revenue Sarawak and was given a datukship too — despite being the usual warning target of our Form Teacher Mrs Wong (now Datin Seri) for always carrying a cigarette packet.

Sceptics said Lim Goh Tong (later Tan Sri, now deceased) was gila (mad/mentally ill) when he built a casino at the mountain top. But now thousands of dreamers are gila losing big bucks daily in Casino de Genting. Lim’s dream has turned into a profiting venture worth billions of ringgit.

According to a reliable source, on an ordinary week day, the collection in 1993 averaged between RM8 million and RM14 million whereas on weekends it could reach up to RM22 million easily.

In the same year, while attending a three-month course at Sri Layang (Rosey Yunus, now Datuk was in my class too), at the lower level of Genting Highlands (60 sen by bus), I couldn’t help imagining going up as from my seat by the window the Genting Hotel that housed the casino was easily visible when it wasn’t very misty. From my 12 trips there during the course duration I won nine and lost three and was able to belanja some course mates, including Rosey, to Kajang for satay. We made two trips there to celebrate my wins, led by a local school principal, Dr Zulkipli who knew the stallholders well.

When it comes to dreams, at one point everyone has one or more, irrespective whether the subject is a student, a teacher, a parent, politician, businessman, roadside stallholder and whatnots.

In a slightly different perspective, since my primary days, despite having no dream of becoming anything, I used to be involved in weird dreams.

Then, little did I realise that the dreams of fighting against demons and giants were actual reflections of my struggles with the exam papers and other challenges faced. But upon looking at those dreams now, they were perhaps testaments of my ability to achieve well in the examinations.

Would one believe that I managed to fight and win against giants who looked taller than the matured durian trees and demons with teeth longer than my hands? But I prevailed without any scar or bump; in another word, I won hands down — in horseracing term, without the use of whip, namely riding on hands and heels only. This means succeeding in overcoming all exam obstacles.