My Dream last night
Friday, December 7th, 2007The world had been put together in a hurry. Curtains and circuits. Planks and pipes. Disorganised and functional. A Mega-event was coming up and I was one of the main organisers. Everything was a mess. Posters had to painted and put up and Jenny and Malu were not being much of a help. They were just giggling around. Finally I tore up the To-Do list and gave up on that bit of the job and went off to the next area where I drew the curtain and turned a knob to turn on the shower and take a bath. Sanghamitra Bannerji, a fellow student at school who I have never given a thought to since, was also there under another shower.
In another part of the dream, Ruchira and I were supposed to perform a dance in front of a large audience. It was the event that we had been preparing for. She and I were in costume-like pink Apsara dresses with golden borders and lots of stiff pleats. I was with my SGPGI friends, far at the back in the audience, when I had to run onstage and start performing. With miserable co-ordination and the typical Bollywood dance steps, we were somehow getting through the performance; suddenly there was a commotion in the audience. Soon it was a riot scene and we ran backstage, backstage being a few wooden planks put together to build a shack.
In the next scene in my dream, it was morning after the night of the dance and the riot. I awoke, stumbled over something and walked to a chink in the wall. I looked outside and it was all deserted and desolate. Dead bodies lay around, smoke arose from quietening fires. I went to the door to step outside. Two people with rifles approached the door from the other side and I dropped immediately, pretending that I was dead. When they were gone, I stepped outside.
On stepping outside I found it a cold morning. There was a large lake. The sky and the lake were blue and grey. Many boats with colourful flowers in them went by with boatmen wearing caps, pepper-coloured beards, kind and light eyes, lined faces and huge phirans/kaftans. I was in a grey sweater with a red collar (Yes, I remember!) and had black hair with big curls. My arms were crossed to keep me from feeling cold. I went on a little further and asked one of the boatmen if I could take a ride.
I sat on the nose of the boat and felt the wind, peace and serenity blow across my face and over the flowers in the boat behind me. It was still early morning and I was in Kashmir.

