Last night I dreamt. I don’t dream too often these days. It’s probably the quality of sleep that decides whether you dream or you don’t. For some reason, I haven’t been sleeping too well of late and thus the number of dreams I’ve had have dwindled in the past few months.
I have had some really strange dreams or rather nightmares since childhood. One reoccurring dream I would get as a child and through my younger years was that of getting stranded on an unknown railway station while traveling with my family for the annual summer holidays at my grandparent’s place in the south of India. My family would find me on their way back from the vacation at the same station, begging with other street urchins in a disheveled state! I guess this dream has something to do with a real-life incident from my childhood when my dad had lost me absent-mindedly on a railway platform when he met an old friend and left me to wander by myself out of pure ignorance. It was only when a kind ticket-collector lifted a bawling me in his arms and went around asking people around him if I was their child that my dad spotted me!
Yet another dream that appears every time I travel by train at nights is of the train crashing down with the bridge that gives away into a deep river in the dark night. This one’s actually like a dramatic scene from some movie. Thanks to this, I still have problems sleeping on a night train.
The eeriest dream I have had so far was about a particular friend who was undergoing some marital problems a few years ago. I would hear this friend’s voice echoing in my dream calling out for help from the drainage filter of my washroom. I wouldn’t see her but I’d hear her troubled voice distinctly pleading for help. Spooky, no?
So when I got this dream last night it was kind of eventful after a long spell of dreamlessness. Thankfully this wasn’t an unpleasant dream. I don’t know how I managed it but I was stranded on an exotic island this time around with miles and miles of blue waters and white sands surrounding me. Surprisingly I was in my beach clothes, a sheer colorful sarong wrapped around me. I could only see my svelte back (obviously, I always appear slimmer in my dreams) against the horizon, which resembled a shot from a Kingfisher calendar. For the first of half of the dream, I was in a state of nirvana. The breeze caressed my hair. My toes buried in the warm comfort of the soft sand. I’d found a coconut from somewhere that I was sipping on. The waves unfurled lazily in front of me leaving interesting patterns in the wet sand. I watched the seagulls fluttering somewhere far away as fluffy white clouds drifted in slow motion. This was one of the ideal rare moments when you are left to yourself to daydream idly with not a care in a world. Life was beautiful.
But wait a minute. Was I alone on that frickin forsaken island? Can you guess why I had got that thought? Not for the fear of being stranded. I actually realized that I did not have something very important with me – my cell phone. Not that I wanted it to call for help. I was actually quite happy by myself on that island and had no intentions of getting rescued anytime soon. But it suddenly occurred to me that there must have been so many unseen notifications on my social media accounts. The world must have been sending me digitally created gaudy flowers and butterflies to wish me Good Morning, Happy *whatever-the-festival-was*, done to death funny jokes, videos and valuable insights on life that I could flood other people’s phones with. And hell, what was I doing in such a scenic place without a camera?! Was I not supposed to click a few awesome pictures and share with the world to show them where I am! What a waste. Heck, where was my phone? I tossed around restlessly in my sleep. And suddenly I was back on my bed, rubbing my sleepy eyes, groggy and disoriented looking for my phone which I found lying loyally by my side, not letting me down with the endless beeps of notifications. Someone in some part of the world was dumping forwarding his or her share of digital thrash gems into my phone and psyche. The dream was broken and so were the quiet languid moments of reflection at the beach. The next morning I wondered if it was a pleasant dream or a nightmare.
What would you reckon? Was it really a pleasant dream? Or was it a new age nightmare? I felt it was ironical that I could not enjoy my own company is such pristine surroundings even for a few minutes. This constant need to be connected and to share every micro-minute of my life with other people was so overpowering. C’mon now, I am not the only one who feels like this these days, right? I have seen how restless and fidgety people become, irrespective of their age, background or gender when they don’t find their phone with them, or when the battery juice is draining and they can’t get to charge it or worst still when they have it and don’t find the WiFi signal! Have we as an evolved species lost the ability to enjoy our own company and unwind in the bliss of solitude? I wonder if we will ever go back to the times when we enjoyed that precious quality time we had kept aside only for ourselves to nourish our souls. Maybe not.
Okay, I’ve got to go now. My phone is beeping again!
Slaves to tech and modern living, we’ve lost touch with having a life without gadgets. You can’t blame only the younger gen because it is a disease that has touched every age and strata. I am consciously staying away from too much time on SM simply because it drives me nuts. Your scenic and relaxing dream was something worth going back to, but alone, without the gadgets. Dreams may come true, so better watch out, will you?
You bet, it was a dream that one would never wish to come back out! I do hope this dream comes true in a good way. You’ve rightfully put it as slaves to tech and modern living. Its good that you have been consciously staying away from it.
Unfortunate that we have all become slaves of technology and how helpless we feel without it. I was in Andamans a few months back without any phone connection. Those were some really blissful days. But I had my phone to take pictures with.
I love how you have wonderfully described all your dreams. Fascinating indeed.
That episode of getting lost in the railway platform was indeed scary. I remember being scared of getting lost in the trains or my Dad missing the train at one of the platforms when he got down to get something. It was quite a dreadful feeling.
I just woke up dreaming I had a miniature kitten padding around our home. Wonder what that dream meant? A desire to owe a cat. 😊
https://natashamusing.com/2018/01/nurturing-mondaymusings-woty/
Hahaha…you had such an apt dream! Being an animal lover that would have been an amazing dream to get. Your Andamans trip sounds like my dream minus the photography. I can imagine how blissful it must have been. I’m glad you enjoyed reading about my dreams. Thanks, Natasha!
We are so dependent on technology. I left my cellphone at home one day and felt like I’d left a part of me behind. I had a great fear of trains when I was little. No problems with planes, ships, car journeys but trains terrified me. No idea why. Some fears are irrational.
I agree some fears are irrational. I wonder why so many of us have this fear of train journeys. It’s reassuring to know that I’m not the only one with such paranoid tendencies. 🙂
I do get restless when I can’t locate my phone and shows how technology has clipped our wings. I keep forgetting what came into my dreams. Your dreams are quite interesting and eventful I see, perhaps something to do with the human psyche.
Thanks, Vishal. You’re not alone in your restlessness without your phone. It’s difficult to remember most dreams, I guess. I remember only a few of mine in detail because of their interesting content!
I used to have the same nightmare of my train crashing and falling into the sea. I don’t like to travel by train at night 🙂 Getting lost on the railway platform must have been scary. As for the phone, I am one of the few who can stay away from my phone without any withdrawal symptoms 🙂 Must be due to my old age 🙂
Wow! We share the same dream, eh? You’re lucky you haven’t been bitten by the phone bug. 🙂
Hi Vinodini – thankfully I’m not tied to technology – but am sure I would be .. if i had kids and a job to go to … so I’m grateful I can be away from it at times. Then of course I want to take a photo – and the phone is at home .. ah well! Dreams … I’m quite glad I don’t have too many of those either … but they must mean something … cheers Hilary
Hey, Hilary! You’re indeed fortunate to not be hooked to your phone. You get to enjoy so much more of life when you’re not tied down by technology.
One with the friend was spooky. But with those kinds of dreams you will know that it is just a dream while dreaming, don’t you? I don’t remember my nightmares these days. It used to be falling from top floor mostly. I never had a dream involving trains or railway station, but whenever I had to travel overnight on the train I was afraid of crashes. Your stranded on the island dream was nice and funny. Funny because of the phone and the attachment to it. It’s odd, isn’t it, more than being cut from others we fear being cut from technology? I am getting better at my phone addiction now. I don’t bring my phone when I am out for a walk with my husband and kids. I am using the phone mostly for calling people, no addicting apps and to take pictures, that maybe is still an addiction, though. 😉
That’s good to know, Vinitha. Keeping your phone usage in check can be quite a bliss in the current scenario. I don’t remember if I knew that it was a dream while I was actually dreaming it, but well it sure scared me out of my wits!