All things dreams.
This Week’s Prompt: 21–27.09
Is the line between our dreams and our perceived reality a blur?
I am going to tell you a story today.
The sound of waves hitting land, the whistling of wind between crevices and hollows of rocks, the slight nip in the air, the wet mud squishing under our shoes as we walk toward a rickety old wooden platform built precariously over dark ocean water. As my cousin brother and I approach the structure, I look up to realise we are at the bottom of a humongous cliff standing tall by the dark sea. It is way past sunset and the water is intimidating, but that does not stop my cousin from yanking me onto the shaky wooden steps leading to the structure. My heart beat picks up as I try not to look down at the un-ending depth of the ocean.
Just as I sit down to get comfortable, a great white shark shoots out of the water right in front of our little pier making the entire structure shake and rumble. Fear grips us both as we run back to land with an adrenalin fuelled haze.
Then next thing I know, I am lying down on cold crisp grass looking up at the night sky. A sky full of stars and the most gorgeous array of the Auroras. Bursting with colour and light, I stay unmoving, staring at the most surreal display of nature I have ever had the fortune to witness.
I slowly sit up, following one particular stream of light that leads to the water in the horizon. Looking around I realise I am sitting on top of the cliff now, next to my cousin who is equally mesmerised by the view. I go back to staring at what lies in front of me, the same ocean I was petrified of not too long ago. At what I would like to call an ocean’s kiss, lies a point in the horizon where the Auroras in the sky come and touch the water that glows with bioluminescence. The sky keeps changing colour, the water keeps glowing. It is almost as if the sky and the water have merged to become one great light show.
It is at this moment in time, I feel complete peace. Pure bliss and contentment. As I watch nature in its truest form unfold in front of me, I come to realise that this feeling of being truly unattached and free is new. It was the first time in my life that I experienced what I can only call nirvana.
I stay there watching, observing, learning.
The sun is out, I am wearing my favourite dress with sneakers and a backpack, walking out of a wood cabin. The cabin sits at the edge of the cliff. I walk toward a street on the other side and move uphill. As I continue my journey, a rush of men, women and children from all age groups start running down in the opposite direction. I stop a postman dressed in khaki shorts and a topi (hat) to ask him what all the commotion was about. He is, like the others frightened, and cycles away with the rest of the crowd without answering me. Now, I begin to panic. I see two policemen on motor bikes a little ahead guiding people in the right direction. I run to them and ask what was going on, why people were so frantic. He points toward a spot in the distance on the cliff that I had previously been sitting and admiring the view from. I squint against the sun to see the very place I found peace, being washed away by a flash flood. My survival instincts kick in and as I decide to run, the kind policeman offers to give me a lift to a safety camp set up at the far end of the area, away from all the chaos.
At the camp, I see hundreds of people huddled together giving support and staying strong. I walk in to see an old acquaintance sitting in a corner, holding onto her bag, worry written all over her face. I walk upto her and ask how she is and if she knew what was happening.
All she says is- ‘we have to leave.’
And that my friends, is when I wake up.
What you just read was a dream I dreamt three years ago. I was going through a phase of having very vivid and intricate dreams. A maze of visuals and stories. This particular one stayed with me because of that one mind altering feeling of peace I experienced. Having been scared of deep water and discomfort with heights for as long as I can remember, I sat on a cliff with joy in my heart watching something that would otherwise constrict my chest in fear.
I was so overwhelmed with emotion that morning, I decided to make a quick painting of the visual I had from the top of the cliff.
(I am not an artist by any means so please overlook my very amateurish attempt with a paintbrush)
A few months later, the familiar feeling still strong, pushed me into getting it permanently etched on my skin. This place had become my own personal sanctuary. A memory from a dream that is more real than the cup of coffee I hold right now as I write this piece.
Over the next few months, various events from the dream started unfolding. The southern part of our country was hit by massive floods, causing damage almost exactly like the floods in my dream. One house that got swept away was my Aunt’s wooden cabin which looked eerily similar to the cabin I walked out of in the dream. My cousin who sat beside me on the cliff, took a trip to the mountains and called me from a place that overlooked the ocean.
In the following months, I took a holiday to Goa, picking a quaint Bnb away from the ocean. Only to one day unknowingly taking a seven kilometre walk to a cliff that overlooked the Arabian Sea.
A couple of weeks later, I open Instagram to see that the acquaintance who said ‘we have to leave’ at the end of my dream, post a picture of her house full of packed boxes, all set to move to a different city.
All I can say from this whole experience is, it put me on the path of believing in… more. Questioning my knowledge of life and reality. And that is when my journey toward becoming the present version of myself, started.
Dream within a dream? Reality within a dream? Dream within reality?
Or maybe it is all the same.
What matters is to believe and truly go with the flow of whatever your version of reality may be.
Dear 𝘋𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘢, loved this prompt. Thank you for always inspiring us.
