31st March 2010 Late Morning

There was a little girl who went missing. It was Mahaveer who first asked me to search for her. There were two other things also that I had to search but the little girl worried me the most. Her absence haunted me in my dreams too. I knew I had to find her!
Once something got stuck in my throat and I was trying hard to push it out but in vain. I felt as if the little girl was telling me that I'd left her in the dark and she was scared. I tried harder to push out the thing stuck in my throat. I didn't come out, so I swallowed it with force.
I had late breakfast as usual and was carrying a glass of milk to drink after sometime. I saw Kapil, Atul, Parashar, Pankaj, Alok, Mahaveer and others playing some stupid game in which they'd hold anyone and push that person very hard and run with that person, then eventually releasing him/her from their grip. I tried to tell them that I had a full big glass of milk in my hand and that the milk would fall and that would make me angry. They didn't bother and the group, like a group of bees surrounded me from behind and pushed me randomly left, right, front. I got angry and spilled all my milk on the person on my right because I was holding the milk in my right hand. Sadly the person was Atul! After that I did throw the remaining drops at Parashar as well but the damage had been done. I went to mess to refill the glass with some milk. On the wall clock above the entrance to the stairs that led to Yuktahaar mess, I saw the time, 12:13 pm. It was way past the breakfast time, so I had to do without milk.
There was some guy who came to me asking for Sushanta. I said I didn't know where he was at the moment. He asked me what bothered me and I said a little girl was missing and he said if I had investigated it thoroughly. I said I didn't ask the girls of the college. He said Sushanta was incharge of ice-creams and that girls would definitely come to him for ice-creams and we could ask them at that time. I looked at him, he seemed to be quite interested in meeting the girls. Then Sashidhar came along and I asked him, "hey how would you suggest a missing person could be found?"
Sashidhar thought for a few seconds and suggested that we could trace her by the IP address. He then explained that the last number would be the person's ID, second last number would be the person's batch, third last number... Finally I asked him, could this method be used at present? Sashidhar, who was sitting on the sidewalk divider, looked up at me, I looked at the other guy. Both of them nodded in negative.
Nobody seemed to be bothered about the missing little girl. Was I the only one who knew about it? Did I imagine Mahaveer telling me about the little girl? Have I been doing too much detective work, as in searching for lost things that I've started hallucinating?
I looked at Sashidhar and the other guy, both lost in their own thoughts, I looked to my right, a little ahead and all my friends were still playing that silly game. I felt the dusk giving way to the night as the darkness slowly spread itself around us.

16th March 2010, Early Morning

I was to go to some place, somewhere far. Perhaps Andaman and Nicobar. I had to get myself registered for the trip, some days prior to the day of travel. I called in a travel agent. I heard a knock at my door. I saw myself walking in an old, perhaps 1 BHK flat towards the door. I asked the agent to come in but he seemed rather perturbed and wanted me to quickly sign the papers confirming my journey. I signed but his uneasiness made me doubtful as to what was bothering him. I didn't ask. I offered him a beverage but he left in haste without a word. I concluded that maybe he wanted to cover maximum customers for a bonus or promotion.

It rained heavily on the day of the journey. The heavy rain reminded me that for some reason I had been to Andaman and Nicobar some months before, and had a miserable experience. I decided to quit and was about to go to the office to cancel my journey when that agent crossed my mind. I picked up my bag, put on my hat, took my umbrella in my arm, looked back at my flat which only had a study table by the window and no other furniture, and only one bulb to light the room, I left for Andaman and Nicobar.

14th March 2010, Early Morning

I was at a party at a rich person's house. The living room was almost packed with guests. It was an invitation only party and I had been invited because of something I was or something I had done, so I was there. The lights were dim and people were slow dancing on the music playing in the background. I felt isolated in the party because I knew limited number of people, all of whom were busy chit-chatting with others, slow dancing, and eating. I stood at a corner with my drink, looking at others.
Next thing, I saw my high school friend at the party !! I was looking at her after many years but could recognize her because she looked quite the same. In that dress she was wearing, and under the dim bluish lighting and slow music, I found her beautiful. I saw her chatting with a married couple and smiling pleasantly. I had always liked her more than a friend. We met like old buddies meet after years. She was a joyous sense of relief in that boring party. We talked for sometime, then she suddenly left me and went to talk to others. She said she would be back in a bit but she wasn't. I felt isolated again. I went to refill my drink (which was non-alcoholic, btw) when I met the hostess. She asked me for a favor and I agreed to do it. But while doing it I realized my mistake. Doing that favor was more boring than standing alone like a statue in that party. Two ladies whom I had seen standing at a corner, just like me, joined me at what I was doing, as if they were looking for something to do. None of the two would speak, only stare at me, at what I was doing. They looked like twin sisters, only they didn't look alike.
Some idiot in a leather jacket, started chit-chatting with the hostess who was standing beside me and the twin ladies. Before she could ask him for the same favor, he offered his services, probably to have a good impression on her. Either he had a crush on that lady, or his mommy must have told him to do so, because the favor wasn't worth any good impression or riches! Thank you, I said to him and left my work to him.
I saw my friend standing in isolation with her drink at the spot I stood for most of the party, aloof in her thoughts. I went to her and in our casual conversation, told her my feelings about her. She gave me the exact reaction I had expected. She said it was very sweet of me and that she also liked me but some things had changed in past few months that at the moment she wasn't ready for any such commitment. I persisted, because I had fell in love with her all over again in the moment I saw her for the first time after many years.
"Why didn't you tell me before?" she said, that tenderness in her voice that almost convinced me she would agree.
"I am telling you now!" I said with all the sincerity in my heart.
She turned to face me and we kissed gently. As we slow danced, holding each other close, I also fell in love with the slow music and the dim blue lighting.

I saw myself at a check post while leaving for home. There was some commotion because somebody said a terrorist had been caught. I got down from my jeep and went to check when I saw Ragunathan sir talking to other policemen or some other security agency personnel. He was their senior, I learned, and was congratulating them on their success and motivating them to keep up the good work. I saw a person looking at all of them with a disgust on his face. I could guess he was the terrorist. He offered me Rs. 90 if I allowed him to walk away and not tell the police that he was running away. He said he only had that much money with him. I refused. He reduced the offer to Rs. 50 and I asked him, "Do you even know how to count?"
I told him, traffic police in India also doesn't agree at Rs. 90, how could I, that too when risk was so high!
He was taken away. I rode back to home in my gypsy. My mother wasn't feeling well so we had to leave. My sister, mother and some friend was sitting behind in the gypsy. My father was staying at some other place. I saw us driving my the streets of Persia, as shown in the game, 'Prince of Persia'. I thought of my work and that there were some people I didn't like at my department, but due to joining of some new people, that dislike had been lessened, as if the new people act like neutralizers. I started thinking of numerology and also trying to find a relation between first alphabet of names of people I keep away from in my department and the new people in my department. While such thoughts occupied my mind, I saw kids playing on the street as we took a turn to the right. Most of the city was stone floored and each road had either houses or a wall on either side.
I get a phone call from the same terrorist even before we are able to drive out of the city. He threatens me that since I didn't help him escape, he'll make my life miserable. He started telling me what all damage he could possibly do and I start feeling scared. His voice and mannerism of speaking made me laugh but I controlled myself, lest I'd offend him even more. My mother wasn't feeling well, my sister was with me, I had a girlfriend now and we were still away from home, driving on strange roads.
Suddenly I see myself doing push-ups, and then I see another self of mine jogging on the streets of the city, as shown in 'Prince of Persia'. Could that be my alter-ego? Or my own self preparing for the future?

11th Feb 2010 Early Morning

Atul was sick, so I took him to a hospital where a girl worked as a nurse who used to be in my school, one year junior to me. She was so pretty and I had a big time crush on her. On reaching the hospital, with atul hanging on my shoulder with his arm, I realized the hospital was a military hospital and Atul would have a hard time there. Atul screamed like a baby when he got injections and whenever I visited him, he begged me to take him to some other hospital!

I did meet the girl from my school. She had come to check on Atul. I saw her in her group of nurses giggling in the corridor for some stupid reason. I wanted to say "hi" when our eyes met but refrained from doing so. She was still so pretty, the only beautiful thing (like sunshine) in the morose ambiance of the hospital. Since her first visit, Atul had stopped complaining about the hospital. :)

I saw myself with my sister walking into a colony we had lived in, few years ago. The first house to the left, in the row of houses as one entered the colony looked familiar to us, perhaps because one of our friends lived there. The door was locked from inside but nobody replied to our bell ring. We walked around the house and entered through the backdoor. Most of the house was marooned but for a pizza box that I found lying on the floor in one empty room close to the main door. I looked at it, then found it open but untouched. I looked at the date, more than a year old but the pizza didn't smell stale.

I had this English assignment due next month. I was at home, because somebody had died in the family and everybody was very sad about it. I managed to write some pages, almost half the assignment, till my last day at home. With a few days to spare before submission day, I stood outside in the train, planning my strategy to complete the assignment. When I reached hostel I realized I had left my assignment at home. :(

Later, I saw myself with a lady in white saree, who had some awesome gadgets. She helped me get my assignment transferred from home to college. My sister thought I had lost my head when I told her the instructions. Sadly the first half of the assignment that I had done wasn't on paper but in a liquid form. That lady further showed off her findings/inventions by rolling the first sheet of paper of second half of my assignment and immersing it in a big jug filled with liquid. The sheet of paper that came out was a blank sheet. She drank that liquid and narrated the whole content verbatim! Now I was curious and suggested her that she could make a similar device that could absorb the content in a liquid and read it out aloud. She smiled, then asked for the second sheet of my second half of assignment, immersed it in the liquid in the jug. The liquid in the jug was then boiled. As the vapors of the liquid came out, the jug started speaking out the content verbatim.

Wacky Dreams Collection Volume 1

1. I saw myself pleading to Atul and Prashant that they teach me for an exam. I did so for a few hours till 8 am. When I started to study for the exam, I looked at my watch and the time is 8:20 am, 10 minutes before exam. I lost my temper, and started hitting Atul. Atul hit back, playfully at first but when he saw that I wasn't fooling around, he got serious too. Meanwhile, Prashant slips away for exam I guess. We sparred for few minutes, landed few blows on each other and finally we were on the floor, bleeding. I then saw us on the hospital bed. My plan worked... we gave the exam later. :D :P

2. This was during morning time in bus from Pune to Hyderabad: I saw them transfer some plants to main field. One of the plants couldn't stand in its water filled space and its shoot got submerged in water. In my attempt to help, I pulled it out and put it straight when no one else dared to touch it. Something from the plant stuck to my fingertips and it had teeth. It bit me. :( (although I think I did wake up because of the bite, not sure though!)

3. 3rd Feb 2010 early morning: I saw a lady sitting in front of her dressing table looking in the tall oval mirror. Suddenly her groom comes into the room who looks like a zombie. The zombie attacks her and after initial struggle, tears off her left hand and part of her right hand. She bleeds and shrieks in pain. Her would be mother-in-law comes into the tent room. The groom zombie rushes out of the tent room and into the woods. The bride goes after him, concerned. The would be mother-in-law goes after them, then stops the bride and says, "Oh, you look so beautiful for the wedding!"

4. 20th March 2010 early morning: I was dying. I had a disease that the doctor did know about but he said he could never understand the nature of that disease and that disease always puzzled him. He said that a cure does exist, he gives me a prescription for the medicine but says that medicine would take few months to arrive, and I might be dead before the medicine arrived. I saw myself sitting alone in my house and prescription in my hand, with dim natural light streaming in from the open door on my left side.

One of my female friends asked me about my perturbed state of mind. I told her everything. She asked me to be hopeful and that everything would be alright. I wanted to believe her, but couldn't.

8th February 2010 Late Morning

I saw myself making a trip to some weird city. They had spacious toilet space like big halls. Some relative of mine, an uncle or a cousin, and I with backpacks on them, traveled to that city on foot, on bike, and train or some public transport. I also saw us jumping from one floating (in air) particle to other during last few hundred meters away from the city. We got very strange reception from the city and its people. The people talked rudely to us and to each other even when they didn't seem so. I observed that the city was mostly deserted and I remember mostly finding the cleaners in the city, cleaning I wonder what!

I remember packing for the same trip, a week later, deciding on clothes and accessories. The second trip was also to be a two day stay there. I saw my father talking to me about the trip and how he appreciated that I was helping out the family! (This dream was probably inspired by Arrested Development, a TV show whose finale I finished watching yesterday night.)

7th Feb 2010 Early Morning

I saw myself as a warrior from a different era because many men dressed as warriors from Spartan's era visited me and convinced me to return, realize my roots and destiny. I remember one of the men saying, "You are destined to be a warrior, what are you even doing here?" looking down upon the work I did.

I was an employee in a corporation. :D On insistence of my colleagues, I tried drinking and smoking after initial hesitation. I didn't feel any beginner's discomfort. The first puff of smoke from my lungs was liberating and whiskey was so smooth! Everyone was surprised!

Later at home, I heard my father talking about whiskey. I realized that my parents had asked me never to drink or smoke. Innocently, I asked father more about whiskey and how it tastes. He seemed to like whiskey and praised it, but didn't offer me a chance to drink! :P

I saw myself as a kid, in a large area surrounded by net. My friends and I were waiting for the boxing training when we all got an option to do attend something else instead, which was something silly and quite boring, but harmless! I just got up and walked out of the net and joined the queue for the other activity. My good friend looked at me, surprised (Arpit Khasgiwala, I think). Some distance from the net, I looked back and saw my friends and others sitting on the sand area lighted from top and surrounded by net. I realized I was leaving behind my great chance of learning how to fight and endure pain. I left the queue, jogged back to the net. My friend saw me, knew my concerns, punched me hard in the face. I fell back on the sand, my nose bleeding a little and my head still confused.

"Welcome back!" he said, offered his hand. I grabbed it and he pulled me up. Maybe he was my friend who later convinced me to return and embrace my destiny of a warrior! :D