What happens to the stars in your eyes ?

You start your life with so many stars in your eyes. Regardless of what you see around you, there is an unbound optimism that life will treat you specially. That , you deserve to be treated specially, differently, simply because you are you. On the rare occasions that you do contemplate on the future, in those heady days of adolescence and teenage, it always looks bright, promising and fulfilling. That's the beauty of being young. The absolute, true innocence that is the quintessence of youth.

And then your future meets you head on. You can't stop the onslaught of time. Well, at that point, you don't want to stop time. In your mind, the life ahead is so full of promises you are positively impatient to grow up and get there ! And one day, you do. Like that good-looking lawyer in Allie McBeal said "we've grown up from people with bright futures to people who should be living their bright futures'! He says it when he is diagnosed with brain tumor and shortly afterwards, he dies. Well, sigh !

For the rest of us who don't die and are left to dwell (read , duel) on Earth, real life springs many surprises. Not all of them pleasant. What you always took for granted may play truant and what you never imagined may just happen. Life is actually best to people who never think ahead, never dream. They may never experience the ecstasy of ambition fulfilled, but they also never suffer the agony of ambition thwarted. (shameless plagiarisation from P G Wodehouse, a far far evolved mind than mine). There are times when you feel that would be the best way to deal with what Life deals you. Take each moment as it comes. But alas, have you a few gray cells, and that becomes impossible. That is just how we are wired. Dreams fulfilled, part-filled, never filled...... And then the stars begin to fade.

As the starts fade, you start seeing Life from a different angle and you meet a very important character in your life. One whom you never met in the 'heady' days. You don't extend him an invitation, but in he walks through your front door and takes firm position on the best couch in your living room. He doesn't butt in your life, just remains there. He shares a mutually exclusive relationship with your stars. As the stars fade and fall, you start seeing him clearly.

In the early days, you may resent him. For his presence, for his refusal to leave. The constant presence. The constant reminder. And then you can ignore him no longer. When you are forced to take cognisance of his existence, you take the first step and offer a handshake . You introduce yourselves. He says, "call me REALITY. that's what others do".

As the days go by and you grow older, mature, you will find yourself seeking out this friend. He becomes your touchstone. And you pray you never lose sight of him, that you are never without his advice. For, by then, all the starts would have left you.............