An Escape to nowhere!!

Saturday 5th September.

This one plays out like a scene out of a movie made by an action director like Michael Bay meeting a surrealist like David Lynch.

By the way, although this has got nothing to do with my dream, I love David Lynch's Mullholland Dr. An amazingly surreal movie that plays out ..... like a dream !!!

My Dream..

I see a lone building, huge and rock-solid , in the middle of nowhere. It looks and feels like the US Govt's Area 51 .... a secret location that's.. well.. top secret(hehe)!! I see a long approach road leading upto the building. The building is 6 storeyed... and each floor looks really tall.... around 20-25 ft in height. It looks more like a fortress, and surrounding it is nothing.... as far as the eye can see, there's just barren land and strong dusty winds.

The strange thing is.. it turns out to be some kind of a hostel... I am apparently living there...The inside of the building is more like a shopping mall.. with 2 or 3 escalators and flights of strairs connecting each floor. There are around 5-6 flats on each floor, each having 3 spacious rooms.

As I enter the 6th floor , I turn to the right and turn the key of the 2nd room from the stairs. It looks like I live here. I see the 3 huge rooms with minimal furniture.. typical of a bachelor's pad. I share the flat with 5 guys.. 2 each in one room. I do not know whom I am living with . One lean and almost emancipated-looking guy walks up to me from the neighbouring room and asks me .. 'What do I have to do to make this room look nice and neat?? Will I get beaten up by the big guys I do not keep it clean!!? ' .... I remember smiling at the way the guy said it.. when I was recollecting this dream.. :)

What I remember most is the terrace.... or the lack of it.

The scene suddenly shifts to me sitting on what looks like an extended windowsill. In front of me are clear blue skies and the wind blowing hard at my face. I am thrilled and scared at the same time. What I am sitting on is a small horizontal concrete extention, right above the top floor. The way to get there is through a small window-like opening at the top of the one of the building's four boundary walls. It looks like a bunch of guys , including me, sneak out each day to the 'terrace sit-out' and freak out in thrill and fear. We are about 180 ft from the ground... and its quite scary to think that one wrong step would send us free-falling down to the harsh ground.

Stranger things were in store..

I am on the top floor... in one of the flats.. where some kind of a crazy rave-party is going on. I see men and women dressed in strange attire on a stage... it looks like some kind of fashion show. These men and women walk around in circles on the stage, robotic in their demeanour... I see myself observing the proceedings, and a few other recognizable faces too in the crowd..

I am sure that unlike most of my other dreams which span over a time period just a few minutes (in the timezone of my 'dream-world') or perhaps 2-3 hrs in some cases, this one spans over a few days, or perhaps a few months.. Its like the account of my life during my stay in that building.

Another day, another 'event'...

I am in my room , lazing around, not doing much , when suddenly one guys whizzes past my flat. As he runs , he shouts aloud ...' Aren't you running ,mate?' !! I am confused. I wonder what's going on and in my curiosity, look out of the window. I see a large gathering of people downstairs. I recognize one or two of them as being guys from my office. They too, were a part of my life in that building , I remembered meeting them on different ocassions.

I run out of my flat and hear a sound that I'd rather not hear. The 'Evacuation' alarm had gone off!! I could not hear it in my room.. apparently, due to faulty wiring. I remember attending one of the sessions during my stay in the building where they 'demo-ed' the 'evacuation plan' , and explained that the alarm would go -off only in case of a bio-chemical attack on the building, via the use of the plumbing infrastructure of the building. ( This really took me back to some of the mock fire-drills they had in Infosys, which was more of a fun-time for everyone than a serious exercise!! ) I see that very few people are yet to leave the building, almost everyone has been evacuated.

I feel the bile rise in my throat as anger and fear grips me.. anger at the faulty wiring and no one thinking that I am 'important' enough to be the priority during evacuation , and fear of having to outrun the deadly gas that may have been pumped through the pipes! I rush down the flights of stairs, I am horrified to see that the escalators have stopped working. I remember running down the stairs at full speed, and the image of the poisonous gas rising up the pipes looming large in my head.

I manage to reach the ground floor and out of the building ... I see a couple of faces I the crowd that I think should have helped me... I feel dejected at the thought, but feel elated to have made it out safe...

Palaces, Pune , Paris , Peshwas and Pigs!

Friday September 4th.

It was during my visit to the UK that I also made sure I visited the city of my dreams(no pun intended!!) .. Paris. My love for the city is more than what words can describe, so maybe I'd just do that sometime else!! But... what did come back to me in my dream was the elegant, romantic and beautiful street-side cafes and restaurants of Paris.

I loved to see lovers, artistes,tramps,families(at times) and other wandering souls sitting on the chairs and tables laid out on the streets, sipping a cup of hot coffee and biting into a croissant and showing their love for each other without any inhibitions.

I wished Pune would be like that some day.

My Dream..

Scene 1:

I am on a visit of what looks like an old, dilapidated remains of a fort. I see three of my friends from office , who are visiting along with me. I recognize only 2 of them, I guess the last one's identity is lost in the thick of the night:) . The fort is built in a mountanious region and from where are standing, we can see the ground below us curve and dip and run into an open channel of water, at about a 25 feet below our current elevation. This particular picture in front of me reminds me of some of the palaces and castles we visited in Scotland. We are apparently playing a game... to run down at full speed down the slope and come up again.. whoever comes back first.. wins!

And there we go.. all four of us, running at full speed down the slope.. its impossible to curtail our momentum as we run further and further down.... I see all of my friends, one by one, reach the lowest level, turn back effortlessly and run back up. Its my turn now... I am about to reach the end of the slope when I find it impossible to put brakes on my feet and I crash into the open channel of water. I manage to get up somehow, but my momentum is lost and as much as I try, I find it impossible to scale the uphill terrain. I slip at times, I tire at times and give up... It looks like I am caught there forever, unable to reach up... These unscuccesful attempts of mine keep playing in a loop ..

Scene 2:

This is where Pune meets Paris. (In real life, I keep hearing of Bombay being transformed into Bangkok and all other false promises... at least in dreams, its possible to achieve the impossible!) .

I see the two quiet lanes behind my office. Its called Shivaji housing society and its situated at a stone's throw away from the bustling Senapati Bapat road, which houses many big IT companies in Pune). I love the houses built in these lanes as they are so approachable from the main road, yet so quiet and peaceful , almost cocooning themselves from the outside traffic and noise. They look unusually clean ... very very clean indeed. No stray dog in sight, no litter strewn around, no one's spit splashed across the tar, no street children's faeces dumped across the corners... The bushes and grass adorning the sides of the lanes are well manicured, the maple trees lining the sides are straight out of a beautiful painting. All the houses are built similarly and painted in pristine white. The wind is soothing to the ears, the leaves falling off trees makes it all look surreal.

There are rows of tables and chairs laid out on the lanes, along one side. I see myself seated at one of the tables, sipping on a cup of hot coffee. There's no one else around, as I take in the beauty around me and enjoy me cuppa'.

How I wish this turns into reality someday. I think we all deserve a much cleaner, a much better city to live in.

Scene 3:

Swine flu's made life hell for everyone in Pune. Unfortunately, the city of the Peshwas had to play host to a virus that has jumped from pigs!

I am in my office, where I see a couple of guys ( I recognize them, but no revealing names!) walking around looking quite sick. I see kerchiefs and towels tied around their noses and necks... I see one of the guys draped from head to toe in a winter woollen shawl.

Don't remember anything else from this part.. I guess this part of my dream was just the result of the fear pyschosis that's gripped the city.

Some things hurt

Thursday, 3rd September

Its so difficult to forget the past at times. Although newer things happen to you as life goes on , and old memories are replaced by new ones, sometimes, deep inside, some things do remain.

This one is going to be short as I don't remember much and I don't want to get too personal either.

My Dream..

Fifteen years have gone by since today.

I am seated in my house, in my room. I look my age , about 40. I still have my french beard on though (its turned a little salt n' pepper in its look!) . I have a feeling that the phone has rung a couple of times last night, and I wasn't able to pick it up.

Just then, some guy (I have no clue who he is) passes by, and tells me 'She (I want to refrain from using names here) called last night. She wanted to speak to you. I told her you weren't available. Maybe she'd call again' .

I remember going into a temporary state of what can be called a mix of elation and disbelief.... and then asking the guy who just spoke to me... 'Will she really?' .... and this is where it ends....

An af'fair' to remember!

Monday, August 31st.

This is going to be a short one. I don't remember much from last night, have had a busy day and am in no mood to give more work to my already-asleep grey cells!

Here it is..

My Dream...

Its me and my mother again (whatever happened to my father, I think he likes to stay away from my dream-land! ) , this time... on a visit to fair!!

It looks like the local circus is in town ... the huge grounds are packed with hordes of people out to enjoy themselves. There are colorful tents all around me.... which seem to be housing lots of performances! Only, this doesn't exactly look like the circus... the acts look far more serious, some to the point of being surreal.

I also notice that its not the trained artistes who are performing, rather an open invite is thrown to the attending audience, to overcome their fears and perform acts of extreme courage. I see a man , in his mid - thirties, balancing himself on what look like two wheels of a Maruti-800! There are 3 more men around him ..constantly replacing the objects underneath his feet .. each subsequent object has an increased level of difficulty... the wheels are replaced by what look like a couple of rollerblades, only with grease smeared all over them.... and then come a pack of revolving glass globes.... I just don't remember this so well..

In another adjoining tent, I am invited by the man, who looks like a cross between Captain Jack Sparrow and apna desi Panditjis... (weird!) .... to take part in a 'star-gazing' contest.... The insides of the tent look eerie... I am almost scared... But when I look up, I see a false screen that resembles the inside of a planetarium. It was one of my most memorable outings as a child, when I'd been to the Birla Planetarium in Hyderabad.. it started a long journey of my fascination of all things astronomical.... galaxies, nebulas, constellations, black holes, supernovas.... I still try to maintain my level of curiosity.... sometimes I even wish I'd chosen a career in this field! The man tells me that I'd win if I manage to look up , just for about ten minutes...

And off go the lights, and so does this particular dream!

The curious case of the futuristic camera...

I sometimes have more than one dream during the night.. and I think last night was one such. Although the one where I went to the fair wasn't too clear when I woke up . . the other one was very clear. It resembled the blockbuster movies of today ... low on story and high on technique!!

I think the location is a revisit to one of my previous dreams . My high school (Saraswati Vidyalaya) premises! Its just me and a couple of nondescript friends sitting in one of the classrooms , near the window , and staring out of a very futuristic looking lens. The lens of course, belongs to an amazing looking camera, that is suspended in thin air, with apparently no support! It looks like it can transform from one shape to another, a compact and lean cube at sometimes, a semi-circular curving shape at another.. and many more!

I focus it on one of the opposite building's walls.. about a 30 feet distance from the window. I twirl the focusing wheel for it to show me the corridor on the first floor. The camera whirrrs and zips and spins each time I adjust the wheel.. making an almost robotic sound. The image zooms and pans and rotates in front of my eyes with each spin, laying out a 3-d projection of the object I want to see , about a foot in front of me.

What I remember the most is the way it felt to use the camera. It worked like magic. Almost robotic in feel . The precision of a surgeon's knife. The way the camera moved and transformed and focussed made it look like I was a part of a science fiction movie!! Looks like I should be satisfied at just having saved 150 bucks!