03/Jan/2013. Vaibhav, I and someone else are in a private theatre. The movie that is playing is “World War 2 in year 4065”. At some point during the movie, we are actually transmuted into the movie itself. As we are walking on the streets in some city in United States, we are told by our suddenly appeared guide that a particular religion is all but eliminated from the United States and completely eliminated from Germany. We also note that in the year 4065, even if it is the month of December (i.e. winter), the temperature is around 22 degrees Celsius, where the expectation is that it should be freezing cold.

Anyway, we continue walking and come to a place where there is a muddy slushy steep downslope followed by an upslope and a stream in between. I run down a little bit, and then glide the rest of the way on the heel of one of my shoes. It was smooth gliding, much like skiing on snow.

We then continue to walk through unpaved roads, until we come to a twin city. Here, we are in search for a specific address and continue walking quite a distance. Papa and Mummy are also walking along. We decide to ask someone for directions, but cannot see anyone. Finally, we can see an old lady with a child walking a little distance away. Papa starts to run towards her – we are on higher ground, so he is running downhill. Partly because he is running fast, and partly because of his drooping eyelids, he does not stop in time, and bumps against the old lady. She is quite shocked; she turns around and unleashes a verbal barrage. This makes Papa very angry. He has a machete in his hand and he raises his arm and points it towards her, threatening her. But the lady continues aggravating him. There are a number of onlookers by now. I take charge now and laugh and tell everyone that it is not how it looks. I move towards Papa, trying to stop him, but before I can, he hits the lady on her back with the machete, thankfully with the flat edge of the machete. Then before I can control him, he again hits her on her bum with the flat edge. Finally, I control him, and walk the old lady away from the scene – a short distance away and get her to sit on the steps. She is threatening to take legal action and complain. I hold her hand in mine and continue trying to explain that the flare up was completely incidental and that Papa cannot see because of drooping eyelids and he was taken aback by her ferocity of abuses. I think I manage to calm her down after a while.

And then there was day break...

16/Oct/2012. Mom is standing outside a room at the end of a long corridor with 4 bags - 2 big and 2 small. There are a few people seeing her off. I walk to the other end of the corridor into a large hall, where there is an airplane check-in counter. I give them mom's ticket and ask for a boarding pass, which I get. I realize that the flight is due to depart very soon, so I rush to back to the end of the corridor to mom and tell her to hurry up. She tries to gather all of her bags, and I tell her to forget it and leave that to me. So she takes one small bag and starts to move down the corridor. By the time I am done lifting the three bags, she is already out of sight. I am panicking, since I know very little time is left. Freya is with me and we start to make our way quickly towards the check-in counter and beyond. Someone at the end of the corridor who was seeing mom off shouts out about something, but I am agitated already and loudly shout a "shut up" back. I have a clear thought that that person is being unhelpful given the limited time for the flight to depart.

There is a barricade, and it is clear that only passengers can go across that barricade. There are a lot of people on one side of the barricade, apparently waiting for their known ones to come out of the airport. I cross the barricade and the usher at almost welcomes me, even if I am not a passenger. He points out to where I should turn and somehow already knows the flight I am looking for. He also says - the flight is a 767 and since it is a large aeroplane, it is parked at the tarmac and so not accessible via the aerobridge. I remember thinking that this means further delays in reaching the aeroplane. I go further in the direction that the usher pointed and reach the security check. I see a large line there and debate whether I should join the line or try a short cut. Finally, I walk up to three employees. They are speaking in Arabic though they look like Indians. I wait for them to finish and then tell them that the flight is due shortly, and so can I skip the line. They say yes, and open the side gate for me to enter. Just then, I hear mom's voice, who is obviously in the security line - though I cannot see her. So I call her to join me quickly. Once I am inside the security area for the check, there is someone else behind me who tries to take this shortcut. But this person is told that he cannot take the shortcut. When he points that I just took the shortcut, one of the three employees tell him that this is because I am an Indian and I have a baby with me, emphasizing on the baby part of the justification.

And then there was day break...

11/Oct/2012. Freya is eating dinner. The TV is on in the background. After finishing around half her dinner, she goes to the bedroom and sleeps. Next, Mayur and I are talking about something on the bed. Next, we are in UK and I am on a train with him sitting on the last corner seat of a coach. I know that Vaibhav and Freya are also in the train, though I cannot see them. There is a man sitting in front of us whose head looks like Anthony Gonsalves. So I clutch a bunch of his hair and pull his black hair. As a reaction, this man adjusts his seat by sliding it forward, thinking that I pulled his hair because I am being inconvenienced due to lack of space. After this, he turns behind, and it is clear that his hair is now blonde and he is not Anthony Gonsalves. I hastily apologize.

Next, a train station is approaching and I think it is called “Foundation” – Mayur says so. So he and I get off the train, and start to walk towards their house. After a short walk, we enter the building and start to climb the stairs. The building has many flats on either side of the stairs; all flats connected by a long corridor. This looks just like the Walchand hostel. The last flight of stairs is wooden, and then I know that this is the level for Ritu’s house. I am climbing this last flight of stairs alone, since Mayur has disappeared. I finally reach the house and open the door to one big room. That is when I realize that Vaibhav and Freya are not with me. So various thoughts come to me around – do they know the address of the house, do they have a telephone number that they can contact, what about the luggage, etc. After some time, I can see them coming up the stairs. There is another man with them, who is carrying all the luggage and also Freya. Ritu gives 10 pounds to that man. Both Vaibhav and Freya are cool with the situation. There is no anger or animosity.

And then there was day break...

17/Jun/2011. It’s a cricket field and India vs. Pakistan match is going on. The stadium does not have any chairs and the spectators are standing outside the boundary line all around the field. I get an idea – to KILL a Pakistani player. So I go around organizing spectators for this. Idea is to attack the player from all sides. First, I get a formation in which all the attackers are standing in multiple adjacent rows. Then someone said that this will be too obvious, so the attackers disperse in smaller groups, randomly spread around the field. The signal is that someone will tap on the head twice and then all these groups will attack the player. The camera pans from above and shows these groups standing all over the field with balloons in their hand. Finally, the signal comes and everyone runs in to attack the player. The attack per se is not seen in the dream – since the dream is through the eyes of a camera and the camera is not focused on the attack. However, in the next shot, the Pakistani player is seen jumping from a stationary plane and falling on the ground breaking his hands in the process. He is immediately taken in an ambulance. A replay of this hands-breaking scene is shown.

And then there was day break...

10/Oct/2009.I did some journey in a Volvo 'Shivneri' bus. At the end of the travel, the driver got off the bus but there are still a few of us sitting in the bus. I see Bhushan sitting around the driver’s seat, while the rest of us are further behind. We are talking about something, when suddenly, the bus starts to move. It is moving slowly and Bhushan is trying to control the control the steering, trying to stop the bus, trying not to panic. But the bus does not stop – it continues to move slowly but surely. I go to the driver’s place to see why the bus is not stopping and I see that the hand brake is not engaged. So I engage this brake, but the bus still does not stop. Notice that the ignition is turned off and there is no key in the bus. I now take control of this slow moving bus – it is extremely maneuverable. I take it through some narrow roads and at one point, I am asking the others whether I should try and stop the bus by rubbing the left side against some structures. Anyway, I decide against that – I have a feeling that I may be asked to pay for the damages to the bus.

The narrow road is ending and a left or right turn will take us to the main road. Thankfully, there is a bunch of big stones (say 6 inches in diameter) – and take the bus over those. This slows down the speed, but we still hit the main road and I take a right turn. A few meters on, the bus comes to a complete halt. Phew! There is another truck standing next to the bus. I ask that driver whether he knows how to fix the failed brakes. He says he does not and points out to a man in the shop next to the bus – he says this man is a Volvo driver. Phew phew! We call the man and he takes the driver’s seat. He says that we need to put some water in the radiator – that will fix the problem. Then he opens the radiator (it’s a complex mechanism that would take me a 1000 words to describe, or 1 picture, but I am not good at drawing), and puts some water into it. In the meantime, the bus has started to move again – in the reverse. There is quite some distance between the bus and a car that is parked by the side of the road – and we are hoping that the brake problem is fixed soon! Finally, it is and bus starts to move forward, with the Volvo driver at the helm and the bus under his control.
And then there was day break...

09/May/2009. I am in a car (a sedan) with a colleague from office. He is driving on a stone and cement slope that is leading into the creek. It seems like high tide in the creek, because a very little portion of the cement and stone slope is visible outside water. A tiger is sitting at the top of this slope. The colleague nudges the tiger with the car. The tiger gets up and walks away from that place. The car follows the tiger.
Next, we find ourselves outside a house in the middle of the jungle. The tiger is still standing around. There are two more cars, with at least one being a coupe with the roof drawn back. I am thinking that the guy in the coupe is very brave to be in that car with a tiger so close. Just then, the coupe guy makes a dash for the house. This attracts the tiger's attention and the tiger dashes behind the guy. Just in the nick of time, the guy gets around one corner of the house. The tiger completely misjudges and hits the wall close to the corner and falls flat. The guy uses this opportunity to dash inside the house, while the tiger picks itself up slowly, almost ashamed of itself.
And then there was day break...

11/Jun/2008. Looks like I dreamed after a long time ;-). Okay, so here is the dream:
I am in a hotel and order for 3-4 dishes for lunch at 12:15 pm. I wait for ever for the dishes to come. In the meantime, I see that other people who have ordered after me have already been served. At 1:45, my patience runs out. I go to the head waiter's table, but he is not around. So I stand forever until he returns back. When I ask him what was going on, he says that it normally takes this much time. I tell him that it doesn't. Then, when he sees his order book, he realizes that my order has not been passed to the kitchen. When I see this, I get wild and tell him to cancel the order. Just then a chakka (transvestite) comes on the scene and asks me to lower my voice. I refuse and continue arguing with him/her. He/she tells me that the food is the best and I would love it, so I should just wait for a while.
Finally, the food comes. Vaibhav and mom also join me for the food. They complain that the roti is very rubbery. There is a lady on the next table and she concurs too. The head waiter is sitting on another table close by and hears this. Finally, when the bill comes, there is a discount and a thank you note for the feedback on the roti.
Next, I am in the balcony of a hotel room with Shireesh Indurkar and Anil Ghanwat. We get this room for one hour for 100 rupees. Clearly, this room was occupied by someone else, who had probably gone out for some work and the hotel owner gave it to us in the meantime since we wanted it only for an hour. This room is by the seaside. Between the sea and the room, there is a shallow muddy water body enclosed by a wall. There are 5 ladies standing in this pool with their backs facing us. Then one lady does a head-over-heals and dips her hair in the water. We come back into the room and see that there is a computer and some books.
After one hour, a hotel worker comes and indicates that time is up. We tell him that next time he should give us a better room. He agrees.
And then there was day break ...