I Freakin' Want

So it was my birthday and my room-mate was feeling generous. He comes to me and says, “Bhai!!! What do you want for your birthday? Tu bas bol kya chaiye.”

“Hmmm… Now what do I want for my birthday? I want a new book to read, or maybe a new United cap, or a new jersey. I want a new shoe, a new watch maybe a new mobile. I am confused. I want a shiny new bicycle, no, a new bike, no, a new car. I want a Mercedes; no, an Aston Martin; wait no, a Jaguar. I want to dine out, to watch three movies back to back, to go on a trip. I want to sing, I want to dance; I es.”

I was saying these out loud and my room-mate kept staring at me; "bhai tu cycle ka karega kya?", he was perplexed. Things escalated quickly.

“I want to fly”, I droned on, “I want money, I want fame, I want to fight crime; I want to be Batman. I want to go to a jungle, I want to switch off my phone, I want to be powerful and I want to be powerless. I want to make a difference and I want to be different. I want to see ‘God’ and I want to go fishing with him (or her or the third gender). I want to know everything, I want to be enlightened, I want to solve problems and I want to create a few. I want to be here and I want to be there; I want to be this and I also want to be that. I want to solve world hunger, I want to eradicate poverty and I want world peace. I want to date Scarlett Johansson and I want to fight Wolverine.”

“Bhai!!” he interrupted, “Even I want to date Scarlett Johansson”.

“It’s my birthday, I get to wish”, I continued, “I want to walk, I want to run and I want to sprint. I want to score a goal in Champions League and I want to ruffle Messi’s hair. I want to travel, I want to wander and I want to be lost. I want to decide finally whether ‘to be or not to be’. I want vegetables to taste like chicken and water like booze. I want to write and then write some more. I want to be invisible and I want to be Batman (Did I say that already?). I want to keep learning and I want to keep exploring. I want to be a reader, a poet, a lover. I want to live, I want to evolve but most importantly, I want to know the meaning of life.”

Later that day, he bought me a pizza.