The Dream that was not supposed to come true

It was the summer of 1990, schools were closed and we could visit uncles and aunts or have them over in our house. My sister and I walked down the Cowley Brawn  road in Coimbatore talking to an uncle who was visiting. The conversation was about 'dreams', the wildest ones and the ones that we were sure would never come true. I dont quiet remember my sister's or my uncle's dreams, but I remember telling them ' I heard on the World Service of the BBC that the Greenwich observatory will be closed down this year. My dream that will never come true is... to be able to put my feet on either side of the prime meridian in Greenwich and say I am now on both the Eastern and the Western hemispheres of the world'. My uncle smiled wisely and my sister went on to state her dream never to be.

Years went by and I happily forgot all about my wild dream. I visited London in the summer of 2007 and felt like Wordsworth as I stood on the westminister bridge. I heard G.B.Shaw's references to Piccadiliy and Charing Cross as I walked those places. I clicked pictures of Nelson in Trafalgar square and I stared at 10 Downing street and the Buckingham Palace. I even went to the Tower bridge but Greenwich never crossed my mind.

A couple of days ago I visited London again, went to all the places I had seen before and in addition saw the Crown Jewels.  I saw the Kohinoor diamond which most Indians dream of seeing.Then  took a boat ride to realise my wild dream. I went to Greenwich, for  in 1998 the observatory came back to were it was for 200 years after two attempts to move it elsewhere. So I put my feet on either sides of the Prime Meridian and said ' I am on the eastern and western hemispheres of the world at the same time'.

My dream  that never was supposed to come true, came true : )