Having lived through years of hard work, motivated by passion and hope, today Imran Khan stands at the crossroads of his political career. He was yearning to bring about a change. Change society. Change the system. Change the people. And change the country. Now, standing atop a motorised container, he is facing the future. The future may be bright or it may be bleak. However, hope for the future rests upon his wisdom, sincerity, honesty, passion and hard work. The events that have unfolded over the past few weeks have changed many perceptions: the captain’s perception about the people and the people’s perceptions about the captain. When he announced and finally started a march towards Islamabad on August 14, 2014, he doused the dreams of many with ice-cold water, those who thought he had become a mature politician, who believed that he would now play his role as a strong opposition leader in national parliament and be a robust driving force for development and social change in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where his party governs. His assault on Islamabad was ill timed. It came at a time when the stock market had crossed the psychologically significant 30,000 points barrier for the first time in history and the US dollar had gone below the Rs 100 mark. These protests have jeopardised the economic growth of the country. The concerns that led him to this march, the unending sit-in protest and the unrealistic demand of the prime minister resigning have been acknowledged as genuine even by his opponents. Yet, his untimely call was not well received even among his own workers. Also, the number of participants in the march was much lower than expected. A major reason for this low turnout of protesters could be the blockade of roads by the government. However, people did not turn up in huge numbers as was claimed by Imran Khan even several days after the barriers were lowered to a large extent. The language he used in his daily rhetoric and the directions he passed on to his workers while standing atop his container in D-Chowk throughout the previous month did not go down well with the masses either. Announcements such as those for “civil disobedience” and violence against policemen were opposed by all sensible people. Resultantly, his popularity graph slumped within a few weeks. Everything seems to be going wrong for him. His judgment of the political atmosphere, public response and support by the “third umpire” evidently turned out to be false. However, when he himself reached the height of negativity out of sheer frustration, one thing worked out for him: his determination. While the people opposed to him termed him a “fool” and a “power hungry” politician, as he addressed empty chairs at his sit-in site in D-Chowk from the top of his container, his message kept spreading far and wide. And then, two incidents occurred last week that took him to a new junction, from where either he can make it or be broken. First, when he forcibly and illegally had his workers released from the police in Bani Gala, his critics found yet another chance to ridicule him. However, this action of his communicated to his workers that he would stand by them, come what may. The crowds in his procession at D-Chowk are still not mammoth in size. One must concede though that the number is still steady and growing. People like his determination and the stand he takes for his workers. The number may not be big, but it is constant and attracting people regularly. The second event took place aboard the PIA flight in Karachi airport. The passengers of Islamabad-bound flight PK-370, who threw the PPP’s former interior minister, Senator Rehman Malik, and the PML-N’s MNA, Dr Ramesh Vankvani, out of the plane for being late, were not PTI workers. They were ordinary citizens but the way they confronted the two ‘VIPs’ who caused a long delay in the departure of the flight, reflected that Imran Khan’s message is indeed causing an impact indirectly. Therefore, despite all the negatives, Imran Khan still stands a chance here. This is the time for him to decide which way to go. He can start by changing his language a little bit and can also make his workers a bit more civilised and peaceful. He can speak with logic instead of taunts and continue spreading his message of change while avoiding baseless and false accusations against his rivals. The Karachi airport incident showed that the masses are already bracing themselves for a positive change and require able leadership. But the way Imran Khan has been acting and speaking during the last few weeks betray that he is losing the opportunity to become that able leader of change. He can utilise this chance and win back that position. The second path is that he may continue following the advice of the likes of Sheikh Rashid, Tahirul Qadri and the Chaudhrys of Gujarat to give in to rants and destroy the able leader still inside him. As for us, the Pakistani nation, we badly require a real alternative to traditional, selfish politicians. Until we get it, we should continue our journey without caring for the crossroads but for the destination. The writer is a journalist based in Islamabad