A strange dream

When I woke up today, I felt something was not right. Had I been in the right state of mind, I would have seen nothing was right. I was in a room that I had not seen before. However, I did not feel alarmed, strangely it seemed an ordinary day.

I had to go with my Mom somewhere, I do not remember where. We hailed a taxi, wait isn’t this too small for all of us. Now it was not just me and my mother but there were quite a number of ladies with my mother. I do not remember when they joined us. I got in the front with the driver. I argued with my mother how they could all sit. She said there was so much room for all of them. I realised there was no point arguing and turned my head around to the driver. ‘Chalo bhaiyya’, I say to him. I have not told him where to go, even I do not really know where I wish to go. It all seems normal though, it seems a vaguely familiar routine. As I look back to see how the ladies are doing, I see they are all seated comfortably. There is a lot of room, amazing that a car which looks so small from outside is so big on the inside.

It is evening now, I do not remember how I got here from the taxi. I look up at the sky at the birds. A couple of birds catch my eye they are going fast and one is chasing the other. ‘Look they have lights’ I say to the man standing next to me. He is my childhood friend who I am seeing after a long time. ‘What do you expect them to have, they are jet planes.’ I look up again, he is right about them. They are not birds but jet planes and they are not the only ones there. There are a lot of them flying around, some of them are flying too close to the ground. I ask my friend, are they supposed to fly so low. He says, ‘let the fireworks begin.’ At any other point of time, this would have made no sense to me and would have seemed so out of context. However now it made perfect sense. The next time I see him it is rather dark, he has a rocket in his hand, a real one.

The planes are flying as usual and I can hear them drone as they move perilously close to our heads. There are a lot of people there, it is a festive atmosphere. It is just like Diwali but with the addition of those ‘birds’ in the sky. Even this sounds vaguely familiar, normal. My friend shoots his rocket but he shoots it horizontally towards us. It hits my dad, I do not remember if he was there earlier. I am furious at my friend, but my Dad says it is ok. He is actually smiling. Wait, there are so many of them, the clones of my Dad smiling at me, all alike, all wearing the same type of T-shirts different colors though. I enquire what is this to my Dad look-alike who stands closest to me. He says it is ok, they all vanish after some time except one. He does not seem to care which one. I feel odd and go back to sleep, I have had enough for the day.

As I get up the next day, I get up in a familiar setting in my hostel room away from my home and away from the maddening place where I was yesterday. I have to take a bath to refresh myself from that strange dream. As I get in the bathroom, I see no mirrors. However there is some one exactly like me standing there. But then it is no big deal, one of us is anyway going to vanish in some time. And strangely I do not care which one it is.

P.S: I had this vague dream a few days back which I decided to write down as well as I could. I have taken a few liberties in the narration here and there, but it is still based on a ‘true dream’. It seems so strange now however it seemed very real when I woke up from my dream.