Martin Luther King, Jr. Delivered a historic speech about four decades ago when he stated:

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out of true meaning of its creed:’ We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’ I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slave and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today! With this faith, we will be able to work together; to pray together; to struggle together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. And if America is to be a great nation, it must become true.”.

Today that Nation has made history by electing their first Afro-American President.

What is very significant here is that this dream was not implanted into the social consciousness during the best of the times but during the worst of the times, when the blacks did not even have their voting rights.

Dhirubhai Ambani dreamt of digital India, where the common man would have access to affordable means of information and communication, which will help him to overcome the handicaps of illiteracy and the lack of mobility. Today it is reality in India. What is very significant here is that this dream was implanted into the minds of Reliance intelligentsia in 1999, when basic communication channels were still pathetic in India.  With every product, service and commodity becoming more and more expensive, here is Mr Ratan Tata dreaming of a one lakh rupees car and the Nano is on its way.

Mahatma Gandhi dreamt of a free India at a time when this country was already enslaved and ruled by foreigners for well over three centuries. And today we are living his dream. At a time when India could not even build air carriers, the man popularly known as the ‘Missile Man of India’, APJ Abdul Kalam, dreamt. Great dreams of great dreamers are always transcended. Today we are living his dream. Today the ‘space’ and the ‘moon’ belong to India too. Even in this bad economy, if the whole world still believes that India’s growth will be well over 7%, it is because as the then Finance Minister, during very ordinary time, dreamt of an economically liberated India.

Dream we must, that all of us know. What is significant here is that all these great dreamers processed great dreams not necessarily during the best of the times but during toughest of the times, during very difficult times, during times when the collective social consciousness was not upbeat. Yet, dream they did and on the sheer strength of their dreams, organizations, nation and humanity as a whole stood up.

Difficult times they say. So, dream we must. As Individual and as a team, dream we must. On the focused strength of our dreams and their execution, let us get the world to stand up and take notice.

- An excerpt from Frozen thoughts