Do I want to do it all over again?

“Give me some sunshine
Give me some rain
Give me another chance
I wanna’ grow up once again.”

These are the opening lines of one of the numbers from the super hit Hindi movie ‘Three Idiots’ and as I heard them sometime, earlier in the day, the thought struck me as to whether I too felt the same way about my life spent thus far.
Long time back, as a kid, when I used to see my father coming home with a lot of gifts and it used to be celebration time at my grandparents’ home, I wanted to grow up fast, become successful, so that I could be like him.
After that, once I’d joined the Sainik School in VII th Standard and saw my seniors coming back to school, during their hols, I again wished that I grew up fast and brought glory to the school. (On passing out from school, I was more inclined to be a doctor because, to my mind, the profession of medicine was the best, as a doctor brought back mankind from the brink of death and I must confess that movies like ‘Safar’ and ‘Anand’ helped bolster this thought at that impressionable age).
And then, on joining the NDA when I saw my DivOs and other officers of the staff, I wanted to pass out as early as possible to become a worthy officer and achieve laurels. And lo and behold, I became one!
What I’ve done so far in the Navy and also about my achievements, I have no regret but I’d be kidding if I were to say that I was not upset when I wasn’t made a Captain, on the select list!! It’s almost a decade back and time has definitely helped heal the wound!!!
And, if I were to meet God tomorrow who grants me a wish to live my life all over again, would I like to live the same way that I’ve lived thus far? My answer has a rider and that is, “Yes, I’d love to grow up the same way, provided, I get back all those people whom I’ve lost till now, without whose nurturing, I could have never reached this stage of my life and also, let me have the continued presence of all those who mean very much to my existence. Otherwise, it’s a big no.”