Just like anybody else I also dream.
Dreams that remained.
The 5 Dreams
1st Dream: Waiting for the trainI was in a waiting room of a railway station. I wanted to go out and take a stroll but the heavy downpour outside held me in. I was stuck with an ultra-boring book which wasn’t getting any interesting. I banged the book shut in anger and cursed myself for ending up in such a place.
A handsome young guy sitting next to me smiled and said to me, “The book gets exciting by the end”
Wow. This guy actually managed to finish reading it? Unbelievable.
“Well, what is it like towards the end?” I enquired.
“What good is a book if you know how its going to end? Its like life. Would you care to live if you know what lies in ahead? “
“I don’t know. I really haven’t been in such a situation.”
“Tell me. Are you superstitious? I mean do you believe in astrology and all?”
“Not exactly. Are you going to predict my future?”
“No man!” he laughed. “In fact I was a believer; not any more.”
“Why? Did something happen or didn’t it?”
He started telling me his story, and his was a lot more interesting than the one in the book.
“During my college days”, he started, “I lived life, with no fear of death. In fact a wanted to die because life had been very tough on me. Instead of facing the problems I opted for the crooked short cut of ending things quickly. Once or twice I did try to kill myself but in vain.
Then I met her. She was smart, talented and beautiful. She scared most of pursuers by telling them that according to her astrology she would have two husbands and the first one would die soon after marriage. Her astrologer’s prediction spread like wild fire and no one had the guts to propose her. And she wandered around the campus alone and depressed.
I felt we made for each other, I wanted to end my life and she wanted someone like me, so that she may fall in love and marry the guy of her dreams and live with him for many years. So we decided to secretly get married. We settled in a far off place where nobody would see us. Though we shared the same apartment we led separate lives, not concerned about each other except for the fact that both of us were waiting for my inevitable death. But human mind is far too complex for anyone to understand. And it happened that we began to fall in love with each other. You can remain in a person’s company forever if you love or hate but you can’t survive with indifference. As we got closer, and started to know each other and live as a couple we realized that the superstition was in fact the hand of fate to bring us together. Just like that book, my life had a boring beginning and I wanted to stop reading. But if I had stopped reading would I be here with an exciting and happy life?”
“That’s really amazing. Its like you have won against your own destiny.”
“No. You really can’t change your destiny. We like to think we have changed destiny when something you expect to happen doesn’t happen. But destiny is not always what we expect it to be. There is always someone above who is control, who has written everything even before you were born.”
It was time for the train. We picked up our bags and walked to platform which was wet and slippery, thanks to the rain. As the noisy train was coming to a halt I asked him which compartment is he in. I didn’t get a reply, I turned to ask again but I saw only his bag in the platform and on looking down at the railway track I saw….
I screamed and I woke up.
2nd Dream: The Train JourneyI was in a train, sitting by the window. It was raining outside and I could feel the tiny drops on my face and aroma the wet soil. As I closed my eyes to drift into a slumber, the train came to a halt. I could hear the hustle and bustle, hawkers, and passengers. After a while the train whistled and set into motion again leaving the station behind.
As the train gained speed, the chilling wind was becoming unbearable .Shivering from the cold, I got up and donned on a jacket. Then I saw her. She was a 5 year old angel with the prettiest face I’d seen so far. She walked up to sit on the vacant berth facing me. A smile radiated from that cherubic visage and I smiled back.
“What is your name?” I asked.
“Sarah”, she said.
“Why are you alone? Where are your parents?” I enquired.
She shrugged her shoulders and casually gestured that they were coming. She asked me about me myself I spoke to her. She seemed very excited as it was her first train journey. It was getting more icy and only then I realized that Sarah was wearing not wearing any thermal yet she remained unaffected by the freezing temperature.
“I like the cold wind” she told as though reading my thoughts.
“Do you have a blanket or something? You should not be sitting like this. You would get pneumonia.” I told thinking my past experience with the dreaded disease.
“I think mom has a blanket. I’ll go and get it.”, saying this she ran away.
After sometime a couple came. At the first glance itself i knew they were Sarah’s parents. But surprisingly Sarah was not with them and her mother had a blanket in her hand. I was observing them and their activities. They settled down comfortably and were talking to each other. They showed no signs of having a child.
“Excuse me,” I interrupted, “eh... Where is Sarah?”
What followed was a few minutes of shocking silence. Her parents stared at me in horror. In those eyes, I could see grief. I didn’t understand.
Her father asked me “How do you know Sarah?”
“She was here. I was talking to her till you guys came. Why? What happened?”
Her mother started crying. He called me aside and told
“Sarah, my baby died 3 months back. She got pneumonia on a similar train journey and……… ”
I woke up…
3rd Dream: The Hell This place where I was sitting was like a corridor .On looking out I could see lush greenery. I could also feel a cool smoothening breeze on my face I relaxed as never before. Just then somebody called me from behind. I turned to see a handsome man walking towards me. He asked “My dear friend do know where you are?”
“No”, I replied.” Where is this place?”
“This is the hell.”
My astonishment knew no bounds. This ought to be a dream. All the frightening images about hell came to my mind.
“It’s not possible. If this is hell then you must be …..”
“Yes. I am the devil.”
My mind couldn’t process the facts it was registering. I looked at him again. Devil could never be such a good looking chap’ I told myself. As though reading my thoughts he said “You are not the first one to get confused about this. Men have always thought the hell be a place of infernal fire and sufferings”
“Is it not? Then how did the stories of such kind came in being? Never ending fire to punish the wrong doers and all??”
“Well I am sure those stories must have prevented some from doing the wrong. But it’s all about perspective. Deep down within yourself if you feel what you did was not the right, you end up suffering.
And if I am helping them to do something then why should I punish them? It’s not logical.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I don’t make people do anything wrong. I just give them an option in their lives. Men always have a choice. Nobody can take away their free will. Not even the devil. I just present myself as an attractive choice. But very few realize that there are options and even lesser choose it.”
“Then what is hell?”
“Hell is my abode, where I treat men who chose me with all the beautiful things in the world. You know more men believe in the existence hell than in heaven because they think that’s where they are going to end up in.”
I woke up.
4th Dream: The HeavenI was sitting in the same corridor. Hell. I waited patiently there not knowing what to expect.
An old man with a long beard appeared out of no where and stood in front of me. It reminded me of Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter. His face seems to be radiating energy. He looked like a wise man. He asked me, “Do you know where you are?”
“Is this not the hell?” I questioned.
“Well, no it’s the heaven.!”
“But the devil told me it was the hell! How can it be possible? Heaven and hell are the same place?”
“Yes. Heaven and hell are the same. Its just the matter of perception.”
“I don’t understand. Does that mean that there is no heaven and hell as such?”
“Not as such. It’s the soul of men which gives him the thoughts about heaven and hell. Soul is imperishable. Just as man discards old clothes and puts on new ones the soul discards old body and puts on new ones.
If the body has done bad deeds its soul suffers for eternity and hence it leads men to righteousness. Men need something to fear and something to hope for. The soul gave them hell and heaven.”
“I still don’t understand. Isn’t there a heaven and hell as we have believed?”
“No. It’s the soul which punishes you with eternal sufferings when you end up doing the wrong. You just have to listen to your soul for proper guidance in the world. Each soul is a part of the universe, thus it knows everything, it has answer to every question. Only that you have to ask the right question.”
“What is that question?”
“Very few know; because men usually don’t know what they want.”
“How to know that?”
“I have explained till here. Now you have to find out.”
“All right. Who are you by the way?”
“I am the God.”
I woke up.
5th Dream: Somewhere I am standing in a place which I have never been to before and yet the place looks so familiar. Its like an old picture in my mind. I start walking. With every step I take I feel immense joy and happiness. All problems stop bothering and my mind is filled with peace. Rarely have I experienced something like this. I am walking through a beautiful garden now, I see someone playing under a tree...
It is Sarah.
I did not wake up….
(A prequel to 5 dreams -
To Sarah with love)
