With Aishwarya Rai on a horseback!

Abhinav Bhindra may have won Gold in the recently concluded Olympics. A couple of guys may have chipped in with a Bronze each but the guy who was tipped to win a Gold Medal but got nowhere near a medal was Akhil Kumar despite all the hype. But indeed he won a lot of hearts in his country including mine. The guy was persistent about his belief that a medal meant only Gold and nothing else. Every one loved his tenacity and when he lost in the quarter final to a worthy opponent, we still hailed him as a hero. But what astounded me about him was what he said after winning the pre-quarter final. He said “Dreams are not what you get when you sleep. Dreams are those that never let you sleep” You may be wondering why I am going gaga over an innocuous statement of a boxer who could not make it to the center stage.

Let me explain. Right through the six and half decades of my existence, I had no correct perspective about dreams. I am always fascinated by the myriad emotions that pass through the face of a sleeping infant, a disarming smile for a second followed by a look of anguish and again the rapturous smile in quick succession. My mum used to explain it as some kind of entertainment provided by God to these infants by playing hide and seek with them. Whether it is a scientific explanation or not, it is clear that these infants do have dreams that cause them to emote so strongly. So from the day a child is out of the womb to the day he is laid to rest, dreams are very much part of his life. Some people talk about it and others may keep their mouth shut about their dreams for the fear of being ridiculed. As Max Beerbohm says “People who insist on telling their dreams are among the terrors of the breakfast table”!

The man who confused me most about dreaming was our former President Dr.Abdul Kalam. Do you remember how he persistently called upon every Indian to dream during his incumbency as President? I always had the fear that he was being directly responsible for the increase in the per capita sleeping hours of the average Indian so that he could dream more.I am a simple man and a bit romantic to boot. I dream only those dreams where I challenge Abhishek in fencing and, after beating him hollow, gallop away with Aishwarya on a horseback! I am a staunch believer in the principle that if our dreams do not dwell on the impossible, it is a sheer waste to fall asleep for the sake of dreaming. And people who dream of the impossible are the ones who do impossible things too like someone confessing ‘Last night I dreamed I ate a ten-pound marshmallow, and when I woke up the pillow was gone!’

When Dr.Kalam exhorted his countrymen to dream more for the sake of a stronger nation, I was literally clueless about the link between my dreaming about Aishwarya and the health of the Nation. Then it came to me in a flash. For someone like Dr.Kalam who has been practising extreme austerity all through his life and who cannot think of anything other than splitting an atom for the benefit of mankind, his dreams are least likely to be mundane like mine. So it is alright for him to keep dreaming but expecting his fellow citizens to climb down from the horsebacks sans the Aishwaryas and join him in his atom splitting dreams would only leave them splitting their hairs! My train of thoughts always took this route since I was totally confused about dreaming. It was then I chanced upon the great statement of Akhil, “Dreams are not what you get when you sleep. Dreams are those that never let you sleep”

I now know that the dreams that we get while we sleep dissolve into thin air the moment we wake up but the dreams that these guys talk about continue even after we wake up. We cannot get rid of them until we realise them. And such a dream catches up with others like a wild fire. Exactly forty five years ago, Martin Luther King created history with one of the most memorable speeches ever made with his ‘I have a dream’ oration. His dream was the kind of dream that never let him sleep until an assassin’s bullet felled him mercilessly. This is the kind of dream that Akhil Kumar referred to in his remarkable statement. I have read a famous quote about it in the web pages which says ‘When we are dreaming alone it is only a dream. When we are dreaming with others, it is the beginning of reality.’ So I asked Aishwarya to get off the horseback so that could hasten to join Dr Kalam in his collective dream for the nation!

 

Dear Mals
What a singular honour to have you come in and suggest improvement to my dreams! But how can I dream of people who I know only by name and never seen? And how can I afford to lose the dignity of a father figure of this elite community?

But then dreaming of shapely modaks with excellent complexion really takes the cake! Chitvish will burn with envy if she comes to know of this dream of yours. She cant make such modaks even in her dreams but then she'll say that a modak is no modak unless it is cracked and pale on one side! Different strokes!
Sri

 

Dear Aruna
If you call her Ash, it makes it sound as though I am some kind of Shiv Baktha with Ash smeared all over my body which may be ,of course, a fitting dream for my age!
A dream makes us work hard only as long as it remains elusive. Once realised, it loses its charm like a dissipated rainbow!
Sri

 

Dear abha
I am broadminded enough to let Indra Madam dream of Abhishek or his dad in retaliation to my dream! You talk as if getting off the horseback and joining Dr.Kalam and Akhil Kumar is as simple as drinking a glass of water! You have no idea how difficult it was getting on to the horse's back and I know getting off is even harder. You must have known that Christopher Reeve who acted as Supermman was paralysed while jumping off a horseback!
Sri
PS:- Mals has a damn good point of course!

 

Re: Windows of the Soul !

Dear Krithika
First things first. I must share a secret with you about Max Beerbohm. You do not have to take what he says about sharing the dreams seriously. He is known to be a bit opinionated on certain issues like sharing dreams. As far as I know, people who are in the habit of sharing their dreams do not wait till breakfast but share them immediately after they brush their teeth. I lay emphasis on 'after' brushing the teeth because I had this habit of spilling the beans even before brushing my teeth and my wife once remarked that I stank more than my dreams! I fully agree with you that sharing our dreams with our loved ones is quite joyful particularly when we dream the same dreams while we are wide awke.

Dr.King's oration is an all time favourite of mine. That speech is a clear example of how a man can secure his place in millions of hearts with just one speech.

I have no special 'thing' for Aishwarya actually but I selected that name to get instant recognition for this post of mine. I am softer towards girls like Meera Jasmine and Jyothika Surya. But you have hit the nail on its head when you say 'They realize whom to admire and whom to bring home/ride with during sunset.' This may sound like who you bring home or ride with at sunset may not be admirable but then admiration alone cannot fuel love. There is a lot more to love than just being an object of admiration!
Sri