India, Nov. 12 -- All of us dream with our eyes open. It matters not whether we succeed in all of these. The beauty of the journey also enriches our lives in ways that we may not immediately fathom. My innumerable dreams keep me moving. My father got me a comic adaptation of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens when I was 6.

I was impressed by the way David tackled the adversities in his life. He was sent to the boarding school by his stepfather and was saved from being bullied by James Steerforth. The two formed an unlikely friendship that ended with the death of James.

Steerforth was a rakish scoundrel, but David looked at all that was good in him. My dream at that tender age depended on my frame of mind. Sometimes I would want to be ...