The air was chill. Their were sounds of birds chirping. I could hear bells chiming at a distance. But uneasiness gripped me. I could feel my heart's thumping in my ears. I could feel the adrenaline rush in my veins. Sweat was dripping down my eye lashes. I couldn't concentrate. My vision was blurring. I could feel my head rolling. This was getting me nowhere.
I closed my eyes trying to pay attention to the minutest of details. I was breathing very heavily. My thigh muscles were tightened. My teeth gripped hard. I noticed that my legs were busy swaying. Yes I was running. I could feel the fatigue, the intense burning in my legs. But the running never seemed to end. Neither could I slow down. As if something pushed me forward or took control of my legs. It didn't take me long to realize that it was not my head turning. Instead it was the world rolling under my feet. So fast.... I wondered where I was...
Now my blurred vision made little sense. Maybe the world was not spinning so fast after all. Maybe I was in some thing like a big ball spinning; a little globe. Yes,I was caged in a globe. But it was too fast for me. My fears grew. Where will all this running end?? How much more can I cope with?. Frantically I started looking around for options. As I turned to my right I saw something strange. A man was jumping around inside the globe. He seemed to be at ease, as if jumping was a better option to my running. Irritated and angered I clenched my fist, trying to run harder. I watched him smile at me. He said," God wanted to test you and me differently”. I looked at him with surprise. I realized he was an amputee, he didn't have one leg.
I was shocked but I still didn't care. The fatigue was getting its toll on me. Slowly I turned to my left towards the intense light that poured on me. Like a purple haze I saw a ghostly figure approaching me. I was astonished by the Godliness it reflected , with a glowing halo, the aura of sanctity. For a moment I believed God existed, or at least , angels from the comic books did. Before I could make out more, a hand came up and wisped past my ears onto my cheeks. ”SLAP”.
With a puff of air my jaws blew wide open. My legs went numb. I staggered forward and fell from my chair. I opened my eyes. I tried to move my hand and legs, but failed. I was lying face down, my hand and legs bound to a chair. Damn!!.... that was all but a dream. I kept wriggling unsuccessfully to free my self from the chair. However after much struggle the rope finally gave away. I got up on my feet. I started gazing out of the window on my left. The banyan tree stood tall like the ghostly figure in my dreams. The glowing sun behind added to its aura of sanctity. The mild breeze continued to kiss my cheeks. Although disturbing,that dream was worth contemplating , I thought.
I looked at my arms; they were all stained with blood. I was bleeding badly. But I felt no pain. I dragged a table by the window. Sipping the cup of coffee that I found on the table I ran my eyes over the lush greenery outside. I felt that nature was at its best. The landscape outside was beauty beyond words. Far across I could see a river meandering through the bottom of the valley adding a sparkle to the serene landscape. I took another sip of the coffee. It was then I observed that the coffee was tasteless. It was neither warm nor cold. "How can someone make coffee so bad" , I pondered. Anyway I was more than happy for having woken from my dream. Life was more relaxing than that dream. As i was relaxing something shining on the floor caught my attention. It looked something like a gold coin. I picked it up. I could see the reflection of my face on it. It made me feel special. With the joy of a kid in possession of a new toy, I spun the coin on the table. Like the totem from Leonardo's inception I mocked. ''Some hell of an imagination was portrayed in that movie'', I told myself. Imagine, dream in a dream in a dream. Bizzare!!!
The spinning coin finally slipped outside of the table. It fell on the floor and out of sight. For a moment , I didn't care if the coin never stopped,I dint care as to who served the tasteless coffee, I dint care if I was pain less,I dint care if my senses went numb... I just didn't care if this was a dream .
Slowly I continued with my gaze outside the window. The landscape was soothing as always I thought. It made me feel relaxed. I took a few deep breaths. With nature ,was always a good choice for "Living one's dream" i realized. Dream or not I continued to enjoy this moment...Because above all, I believed in living this moment .....Who knows... maybe in some unknown corner of the floor the coin was still spinning with all its momentum..........
