I dreamt a dream!

Dreams are generally very amusing. They often reveal a few subconscious fears and wishes that the conscious mind has no idea about.

I have never thought of interpreting any of my dreams though that seems like an interesting idea,. But I am no Sigmund Freud so my interest in that domain is probably just a passing one.

All of us have quite a few dreams. A few that we remember and most that we dont. I never thought too much about my dreams until I had read 'Surely you're joking Mr.Feynmann' where Feynmann had penned down the analysis of his dreams. Found that pretty fascinating.I guess all of us have a string of dreams every night or even when we doze off during the day. Once I was telling a friend of mine, about a funny string of dreams that I had had the previous night and she smiled and said 'They sound like short stories'. Indeed, sometimes they do.

Just like most of you out there, I loved the movie 'Inception'. Apart from the concept of Inception, the idea of the nested dreams was quite thought provoking. It amazed me while I was watching the movie, but when I thought about it a bit I recalled that I do have nested dreams too. There was a dream in which I was narrating the details of a dream that I had had the earlier night, to a friend of mine. The best part was that I first remember having the dream that I was talking about and then I woke up (still in the dream), had a normal day and then chatted with my friend during the day and that is when I mentioned the first dream. I know it sounds a bit confusing. But I am sure you would be able to relate to it if you have had nested dreams too.(which isnt a rare thing after all)

All of us have those common dreams - failing in an exam, falling from somewhere, back at school again, parents coming for a visit, a meet up with old friends, finding someone you miss, at your doorstep, getting late for an exam/meeting, crazy disasters, the guy u have a crush on asking u out etc. Rarely though, there are a few scary and sad ones too. I did have a few of those about some friend or the other or my parents. I remember calling up to ask if they were fine the next day. There are times when I am having a dream and I am telling myself that its just a dream so there is nothing to worry.

I have quite a few funny ones too. There was one in which I spent a day in a prison only to find that the whole arrest and imprisonment thing was a prank played by one of my friends! But that dream was a nice one. I liked that one because it did help me shed a few prejudices I earlier had about prisons. This in fact, presented a pretty picture! For starters, the food was not bad. Then the convict clothes that I was given were brand new (not fashionable though. They were the same old white with black stripes as in Bollywood films.)The cells were clean and well-lit. There was a bed and a small but nice window. The dream ended very ridiculously too. Towards the end of the day, a couple of police men came to me and apologised and told me that my arrest was a mistake and that it was actually a prank played by a friend of mine and that they had no idea of the prank earlier. I could have fumed with anger at the mention of those words, but I didnt cause it was a different experience:-). Anyway I told the officers that since they caused me so much inconvenience, the least they could do for me would be to drop me home in a cab (not the police van by the way!). They heard that and then apologised again saying that they could not do that. They even told me something like, "Madam! We are really sorry. But you know the Indian police. We are on a very tight budget. So a cab would not be possible. However we could give you the bus fare till your place." (LOL!I actually do remember this from the dream quite vividly.) But I guess my disappointement at hearing those words from the police, woke me up because I could not recall anything about the dream after that dialogue.

There was another ridiculous one where my Ma, sis and I sort of stole a taxi. Not exactly stole it but used it to get to our destination and left it there.:-) Dreams have many of these conflicting details. Like, for example my Ma is a totally law-abiding person. To think she would drive the stolen taxi! impossible! And then the fact that it was a yellow taxi like the ones here in Kolkata but the dream was set in Chennai. (Sounds like a movie :-D). Then comes the fact that none of the ever vigilant traffic police officers or the passers-by noticed anything amiss!

The best dreams are the ones in which I am sure I am dreaming but I do not want to wake up. I love it when I can pick up a dream from where I left it a couple of minutes back.

Anyway, I do hope all this dreaming does me some good. Like some day if I make a movie out of the amusing dreams I have :-). Akira Kurosawa actually made one!

Dear Today

Dear Today,

I have been waiting to see you for a long time.

I have often wondered how you will be like. Now that you are finally here, I am really excited. Wonder if you have any surprises in store for me! Anyway, I have made grand plans for the next 24 hours.(Though I am not great when it comes to sticking to my plans, I shall try my best this time, I promise!:-))

While I feel great that I shall finally get to know you and celebrate with you, the thought you will be here only for the next few hours, makes me sad.

Anyway, I hope we will have a great time together and the memory of these few hours will be etched on my mind for a long time to come.

Cheers,
Me

Just a smile..thats all, really!

Ever wondered why the guy walking down the road was smiling to himself? What was the little thing that made his lips curl up at the ends and change his facial expression totally? I remember something that we used to say a long time back at school when we were kids. We used to say that one should not smile or laugh to oneself cause thats something the insane do.

But in spite of this, there are times that all of us end up smiling to ourselves or may be if not at ourseleves, at a situation. It may be a song with beautiful lyrics or something that stirs awake the nostalgia in us or a fellow passenger's antics on the bus or could be an innovative, amusing ad that u happen to spot for the first time. One does not necessarily smile only when she/he finds something funny or amusing, it might be something that makes her/him feel happy or contented.

Coming to think of it, a smile is something very beautiful. Came across this somewhere -“Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.” Its funny how this tiny thing called a smile can totally change a situation. (I know how cute kids get away with their pranks after flashing a sweet, innocent smile that can simply make your heart melt and wonder how could u even think of punishing such a sweet angel!:-)). Smile is a great stress-buster, one of the best cosmetics, an ice-breaker, conversation-starter, mood-lifter and what not! A smile makes one feel good about oneself and brightens up his mood. And of course, laughter is all that and more.

Ever noticed how most people act inside an elevator? Everyone either looks ahead or looks down or pretends to read something or pretends to be seriously pondering over something and there is of course the majority who just observe the people around.:-) But there is also this minority who are so soaked and drenched in humour that they cant afford not to leave a trace of it inside the elevator. I am sure most of us would have heard those ridiculously funny comments and sarcasm often at the expense of another poor bloke in the same elevator, and silently chuckled at the situation part of us pitying the poor guy (might be a girl too).* These instances do lighten one's mood and bring a smile to their face.

When I was young, I remember many instances when I used to smile at strangers I liked or someone who happened to ask my name or pulled my cheeks or may be someone who offered to make me sit on their lap when my parents could not get a seat in the bus. I do remember those numerous instances when Deepika and I used wave and smile at strangers who passed by on the road as our school van trudged along to drop us home from school:-). Even that brings a smile to my face when I realize how naive, innocent and simple we were back then. Though I dont remember much of it,but I am sure my first friends were the ones who
smiled at me or returned a smile. I guess that was also just about the only thing which my little sister could do when she was a baby and hadnt started to talk.

As kids we laughed and smiled so often. We never even thought if teh situation demanded a smile. It just came to us spontaneously when we played with our dolls, or role-played as teachers, or watched with glee as our cars beat our friends', or as we grabbed chocolates offered by someone. But it makes me sad to think how many of us lost that innocent, naive smile somewhere down the line. Though all of us know that a smile is all that I have written above (shan't repeat:-)). We somehow dont use that so often. We use smiley emoticons more often than we actually smile. A few weeks back, I smiled at a group of kindergarten kids going to school and God! they stared back at me as if I committed a crime or something!! Rarely does one
come across kids who spontaneously smile at a well-meaning stranger.These days, there are so many times when I feel good and feel like smiling at someone passing by, but because of a few past experiences I dont do that anymore. Some ppl dont recognize a smile as just an expression; they try to read hard into it and thats the sad part. Such misunderstandings generally happen with the opposite gender. Thats sad I know. But many times when one smiles at someone (of the opposite gender), they assume it to be an act of encouraging a conversation. And then we all know the rest of the story - Barrage of pointless questions - may I know your name, what do u do, where do u stay, can I have your phn number blah blah blah. Why cant people understand that its just a smile, thats all, really?


* BTW this was about the elevators in the out-an-out corporate offices. Not talking about the cool offices where no one minds even if u don a t-shirt and a pair of shorts on a workday.:-) I am also not talking about the elevators we had back in college, where all we did was either scream or giggle incessantly (and ya that would be us girls giggling:-))

Fear of firsts!

After close to two years of signing up on Blogspot, I guess i will pen down (or rather type out) a few words after all. :-) The problem is I have always wanted to write but somehow the lazy me never gets around to getting started with it. So after coupla years of posting long comments on my friends' blog posts, let me give them a chance to do so on mine too :-)..

As this is a first post, let me not dwell on this any more. This time i promise to make a comeback as soon as I find a compelling thought or a train of thought that drives my fingers to the keyboard and makes them dance on the keypad to compose something that might be worth everyones' time. So till then, see you soon.

P.S. this is my first post. So ppl no criticism allowed. :-)