31st Jan 2014, Morning

I saw myself sitting at a restaurant, waiting for her. I was supposed to have lunch with her. However I saw that her whole family, some 20 people walked in and took seats in the restaurant in the row in which I was sitting. I was sitting in one corner and one of them, an old man probably her grandfather, came and sat with me and made me feel comfortable.
The service at the restaurant was really good and as I was feeling shy and overwhelmed by presence of so many family members, the grandfather helped me out by asking everybody to quickly order food of their choice and I took out my meals coupon to pay for it but grandfather had already paid him in cash. I started to argue with him but he and everybody else had got busy eating so I didn't pursue it any further.
I was having a good time and had almost forgotten why I was sitting there in the first place, i.e., a date with her and only her, not her whole family, when she walks in with two of her friends, and they occupy a small table in my line of sight in the middle of the restaurant, meant for 4 people. Someone from the family asked the waiter to call for them. All this while I was just sitting there looking at her in utter disbelief. I think the grandfather and few others looked at me with sympathy.
She really didn't seem to know we all were there at the same restaurant, based on the way she reacted when the waiter told them and indicated them towards our tables. She introduced her friends to us and greeted everyone except me. I know she felt my presence because she paused for a moment and felt something because her expression changed but she didn't directly look at me. I was sitting at the place where I always sat during our lunches but still she didn't look at me! She simply took a chair adjacent to me and everybody resumed their lunch. It was so good to see her again, laughing and chatting. But she didn't seem to notice me at all or remember that we had a lunch date.
Once the lunch was over, while everybody started leaving, I was hoping that now she'd say something to me but she didn't. Next I saw myself fighting with the manager that they might have paid him more and tried to stop them when he said it was Rs. 700. He repeated himself saying it was Rs. 700/person. I saw this other guy paying up remaining amount and leaving while I was in a conversation with him. And now the manager left me in the middle of a conversation.
Later I learned about her fiance, a surgeon. Reminded me of my friend Harsh when I saw him, in conversation with her and her family. I was okay with her marrying him, I just wanted her to meet me once.

28th Jan 2014, Late Morning

I saw myself in so many different alternate realities at the same time.
In one there was a gathering in a big ground with arch shaped seating arrangements with increasing heights. There was no audience and everybody was either singing in the chorus or at least standing there with them. It was past dinner time and I stood there looking at the crowd turn into a well arranged group of chorus singers singing their regional songs as a symbol of solidarity. There was a cake kept at a high stand and it seemed it had been cut into pieces and some pieces were already consumed and my attention was mostly at the cake. I saw Rajesh T walk in and sit there with others...
I saw myself in some get together of my friends where they were making up games. It was like morning of Holi. I saw Snigdha, Rajasekhar and few others, they were standing in line and doing some dance steps and some other funny things and were asking silly questions to passerbys. I became one such passerby and they asked me silly questions. Snigdha asked me something and I replied something fruit something, and for every question she asked, I talked about fruits! Rajasekhar responded, 'bakwas'.

I saw this guy meet this girl for the first time at her house. It seems the guy crash landed in another reality with his house while his parents were out somewhere for the night. The girl and guy seemed to like each other instantly. Even though the girl's father was hesitant about them hanging out, he didn't object to it too much. So they spent all their time together, driving around, sitting in the meadows and sharing laughs, or kissing each other after every joke. They spent nights at the open air cinema, just the two of them, watching the movie from their convertible and then falling asleep in each others arms. They loved each other so much that the guy gradually became fat and I said to myself, the girl will leave him now and go with a better looking guy. But while I was there I saw her with him only, she even kissed his big fat lips on his big fat head.

I saw myself in the house of that guy which was now abandoned. It was late at night. Somehow I felt lost in time, realizing that this is not the first time I am in someone else's reality and thought hard, really hard to get back to my reality. I remembered I was a little kid who had got lost while playing with his soldier toys. In my mind I recalled that this one man would save me, this one man with a funny name, and then I heard someone shout, 'Sherlock' and I said to myself, that's him! He had saved me when I was lost that evening and he will save me now. But then I ask myself, what if he doesn't come to rescue me this time? Think buddy think! There's always a way out, I know my reality and I will get back to it.

22nd Jan 2014, Morning.

The day was cloudy and windy and the waves were wild. I was standing at the deck of a ship with my parents and my sister, among other tourists who had set sail on that ship with us. I never got to see our cabin  because all this time we were roaming on the deck and inside the ship and exploring the ship. This was the first time either of us had set foot on a ship and we were all every excited. My sister seemed a bit cautious of this new place so was rather silent but I think she was slowly soaking it all in.
I remember peeping into the insides of a big restaurant through the crystal glass panes of the thick wooden doors while we were at the deck. I could feel the ship moving under my feet, that slow wobbly motion of the vessel that gives some people sea sickness. However I seemed to enjoy it.
Next day the weather was brighter and the sea was calm. It felt like post-breakfast hour when we were once again standing on the deck and that faint sunshine was quite beautiful. It was almost noon when someone approached us and told my father about the new sea activity that came within the package we had booked. It involved two people who could take a ride on the sea in a new compact well streamlined model of a water scooter which was even covered at the top so that if it topples, it can be made to turn back to its normal position again. He shared the pictures of this new model and then, since we had nothing else to do, we went to check out this in action.
They were slowly suspending these from the ropes, like they do with lifeboats (and these would make great lifeboats, btw), and I saw a couple get into one of these 'pods' as they looked like. The wife seemed quite thrilled (read: scared) and the husband tried to smile at the camera. Apparently they were the first ones to try these out. The steering wheel caught my attention, it was so thin! I saw the husband hold it and it bent under his grip. I saw the next pod closely and saw the steering, the seats etc. My father was almost ready to send me and my sister down in the open sea. I looked at my sister and she was also looking at the pod, and I realized she had no idea the dangers at the sea. It was like walking on the treetops, what lay beneath was beyond our comprehension. Besides, we've all seen what sharks can do, in the movies and Discovery channels. They assured that this part of the sea was least inhabited and so didn't have any sharks or other sea predators but I didn't want to take any chances.
Very few people get to see a real shark in action before they die but I wasn't going to be one of them! So I refused, my fear evident in my face and voice, so my sister also had to miss out on the fun. She did look disappointed and gave one last look to that empty pod which was then occupied by another newly married couple.

16th Jan 2014, Morning

I saw myself in a classroom with lots of other people of my age, sitting scattered across the room on their classroom wooden desks (a chair with a fold-able table like surface). It looked like post-sunset as the old asbestos roof classroom was dimly lit by a couple of light bulbs and the mood in the room was lethargic, as if this was a night class of some sort.
So while everybody sat there scribbling down, some with gusto, some with pride while a few with pleasant delight, I just sat there trying to recall all that I had done in the last few years ever since I started working. Apparently our teacher had asked us to write down about our job, what we currently do, what are our roles and responsibilities etc. and I was not just at a loss of words but also at a loss of thoughts!
So I decided to sneak peek into someone else's "essay" which is what it looked like everyone was writing since they all seemed engrossed in thinking, and scribbling, and thinking again. I saw one guy had "designed" a template in that one page space so as to fit as much information as possible and at the same time keeping everything as visible as possible. I liked it! And I slid it from below his hand, to his utter amazement of course.
"Make another one." I said with a straight face, then added, "I really appreciate your help, thanks."
Few minutes later the teacher started looking into everybody's paper while they still continued to scribble. I say scribble because that's what it sounded to me like. She looked into my paper and somehow identified that it wasn't my work. Perhaps she saw the difference in the two handwriting. Without telling me, she pulled the paper from below my hands while my pen wasn't touching the paper, and looked at it closely. I looked up at her, hoping that she'd just return it and get back to looking into others' papers.
"This is not your work, whose work is this?" She said loudly enough for everyone to hear.
The guy sitting beside me raised his hand hesitatingly while looking at me as if for my permission.
She returned it to him and gave me a new fresh plain sheet of white paper and asked me to start all over again. I was scared, angry and hurt.
"Look at his work." She said, pointing to Kautuk, who suddenly looked up when he realized that everyone was looking at him. I did look and yes, it was very well done, or very well written, same thing I guess. He had his own template and the teacher later left the remark, 'stylish' in red near the top right corner, where she found some space to scribble.
Next I saw myself walking into that classroom but from the other door, not the main door. Perhaps I had gone out for fresh air, or this was the next day and I had taken another route to this place so used the other door to enter. That blank sheet of paper was still in my hand while I looked around for vacant chair to sit. I asked someone sitting in the first row if the seat beside her was vacant. She replied in an affirmative, looking in the direction of the projector screen, waiting for it to come to life.