I’ve always associated big cities with big dreams.

Colorful logos crowned atop humongous glass structures.

Undimming lights gleaming from cars forming a glowing necklace around the city.

History of a thousand years decorated in swanky museums.

These cities are the epitome of human aspiration.

They are living breathing organisms that never sleep.

These sacred temples of humankind have cradled the dreamers that came before me.

They’ve witnessed my ancestors rise from nothing to create legacies for the future generations to marvel at.

Giving up on my own dreams, to me is insulting their contribution to the world I live in today.

Big cities remind me of my big dreams.

The dreams I brought from a realm separate from ours.

God sends us to this earth with everything we have but dreams I believe we bring of our own. Genetics, luck, relationships, success, money – everything that we pride over is handed down to us by some divine entity with that one slot of dreams to be filled by our own soul.

I’ve been terrified of more things in my life than I’d care to admit but even when I was petrified of every pesky little thing, I was never scared of dreaming big.

“Small aim is a crime” – I grew up reciting the Song of Youth every Wednesday in school assembly written by our beloved Dr. Kalam.

‘Small aim is a crime’ reverberates in my ears every time I catch myself dreaming an unworthy dream.

These dreams of mine I speak so passionately about exist separate from my destiny.

They aren’t withheld by my limited capabilities or disproven by my infinite failures. My dreams are the equivalent of a 5 year old adorning a batman t-shirt – both refuse to entertain the existence of something impossible.

I long for people to call my dream a ridiculous one. A flicker of disbelief in their eyes, a smug shrug or a dismissive tone, or an outright lecture on practicality. That’s how I know my dream is worth fighting for!

Dreams aren’t meant to be practical. There’s a reason God couldn’t have given them to us. They are an inseparable part of us that transcends space and time.

These big cities remind me that there’s a debt I owe to myself. The debt of bringing my dreams to reality.