Dreams that I get are some of the most vivid. They are laden with details. I have had many dreams which would give movies a run for script :) I ad one such dream this morning. It was about adopting a girl child. Read on !
Today I woke up around 4:30 in the morning. Not many times do I see the sunrise. This is one of those rare days. My roomie Siddharth was sleeping and my mind was blank and not working. Hence I was surfing for a while and I decided to sleep back around 6:00 deciding to work around 9:00. What followed in my half baked sleep was a wonderful dream very well scripted.
In the dream I visit brahmadesam - my village - with my parents to find that in that tattered village, my ancestral house looks extremely well maintained. All the walls are filled with photos ranging from the days of my paternal granddad's 60th b'day to the most recent ones. Some photos had both grandfathers sharing a joke, something I never saw really. I was surprised to see that the current tenant did not want to move even one of the photos away and he is lviing with them. When asked, he replied : "sir, I do not have any relatives. When I see these beautiful photographs of all you people, I feel that I am in the midst of known people. I am happy to be that way." I held his hands in mine and thanked him for his fine gesture.
Taking his permission, my father and I invite all my relatives to gather there (as we usually did for every diwali when I was a child). They are all gathered and all are busy chitchatting and sifting through the albums. All are happy that the old atmosphere is back. The womenfolk get busy preparing food for all and menfolk in a retirement mood start talking about their various "pradhaabams" (praising themselves for their own spuriously great deeds) and kids play around in the house. In one of the photos I come acoss a beautiful girl I had never seen and I aks my mom who this is. My mom replies : "she is the one who has a muslim connection". I asked her to give more details at the same passing a jocular remark : "sema kattax ma..avanukku mattum kedakkama pOyirundhaa, naan ivaLai sight adichchu kalyaaNam paNNiNdu irundhiruppen".
At that juncture a beautiful girl child (aged may be 3) dressed like an angel in white churidar with a dot in forehead comes and says amidst baby jibber : "amma paththi apdi sollaadheenga". I am shocked to hear such a defensive stmt from a kid and I was sure there was some other person who had asked the kid to say those words. Then my mom said : "She married a muslim guy and their marriage fell apart. Both of them did not want this kid and parted ways. Nobody knows where they are and that man is the caretaker of this kid", pointing to a person sitting in the chair.
I go near him and instantly recgonize him as Driver Chandran's brother ! I said : "It was just a casual remark that a guy passes after seeing a beautiful girl. No disrespect to your sister". He is happy I could recognize him immediately and accepts my apology and says :"Well, not that I care for my gone sister, just a way to maintain my family dignity". Then I ask him : "so baby archana is with you ?" He says : "Yes" (in an insipid tone), "vera vazi illai..enna seyyaradhu..irundhuttu pOgattum nu naan dhaan vaLakkarEn".
At that point I recognize that there is no love in his tone at all for that cherubic child. I slowly get dragged towards the child and start playing with her. She gets close with me pretty fast and that was not seen very welcome by all the other relatives. It was time to board the city-bus and go to Hotel aaryaas for a family dinner. As all board the bus, there are many people insinuating that archana should not be accompanying us. People were using standard tactics like "archchu, aaththula pOy cheeppu eduththuNDu vaa..archchu aaththai baththiramaa paaththukkO" etc..I ask why they are avoiding archana and they reply : "She is a shame to our family. Naalu pEru naalu vidhamaa pEsuvaa koottiNdu pOnaa". I become totally enraged and shout at all of them : "Be human and give the child a break - she is barely three and has no idea what the hell you people are talking about. She is coming with me whatever be the case." People go silent listening to my mad outburst. I get the tickets for all of them to hotel aaryaas and I board the bus. Nobody is ready to give place to the kid ! Thambu mama - my dad's bestest friend - gets the kid on his lap. I mistake him for not giving place either and blow my fuse : "mama, neenga koodava ?" Mama says - "Murali, I am having her on my lap because I love her". I am so ashamed that I take thambu mama's hands and apologize. I sit next to him with archana and there is another kid in the bus which shares my lap with her.
But on the way we get down and I go get my bike. Hero honda. Putting archchu in the front I drive slowly with her and reach tirunelveli junction where my parents are standing in front of the Roshan shop.
Appa:" Where are we eating ?"
I: "appa, aaryaas ku thaanE ticket vaanginEn. Anga pOy iRangaliya?"
My dad seeing my deep attachment by this time with archana says :
Appa: "Murali idhellaam thEvai illainnu ninaikkarEn".
Puzzled I ask him : "ennappa solrEL ?"
Appa : "indhak kozandhaiyai nee ipdi koNdu suththinaa naaLaikku neraya problem varum. Idhellaam unakku puriyaadhu. Nee chinnap payyan"
I : "ennappa solrEL ? Naan chumma indhak kozandhaiyODa pEsaradhE thappa ?"
Appa: "nammaththula ellaam indha maadhiri yaarum muslim I ellaam kattiNdu pOgalai. Indhak kozandhaiyOda sagavaasam vENdaamE"
My mom seems to be nodding for the same. I become enraged at that point once again. I tell my dad: "appa, whoever comes and whatever happens, I am not going to let this child go. I am adopting her."
appa: "adhellam sarippadadhu pinnaadi neraya.."
I interject and say : "Sorry pa. I have decided. She is my child. I am keeping her whatever comes. I will face that for sure" and hug archana siting on the fuel tank in the front.
============================
Thambu mama is dead for three years now and the respect I have for him is immense. I guess this whole dream comes out of my earlier idea of adopting a child, playing with vaishali - sathish's daughter yesterday - and eagerness to visit family. My mom and dad, as I know are not the ones which speak the above lines. They are compassionate and human. I believe all the dialogues originated from various parts of my paranoid personality :)
Today I woke up around 4:30 in the morning. Not many times do I see the sunrise. This is one of those rare days. My roomie Siddharth was sleeping and my mind was blank and not working. Hence I was surfing for a while and I decided to sleep back around 6:00 deciding to work around 9:00. What followed in my half baked sleep was a wonderful dream very well scripted.
In the dream I visit brahmadesam - my village - with my parents to find that in that tattered village, my ancestral house looks extremely well maintained. All the walls are filled with photos ranging from the days of my paternal granddad's 60th b'day to the most recent ones. Some photos had both grandfathers sharing a joke, something I never saw really. I was surprised to see that the current tenant did not want to move even one of the photos away and he is lviing with them. When asked, he replied : "sir, I do not have any relatives. When I see these beautiful photographs of all you people, I feel that I am in the midst of known people. I am happy to be that way." I held his hands in mine and thanked him for his fine gesture.
Taking his permission, my father and I invite all my relatives to gather there (as we usually did for every diwali when I was a child). They are all gathered and all are busy chitchatting and sifting through the albums. All are happy that the old atmosphere is back. The womenfolk get busy preparing food for all and menfolk in a retirement mood start talking about their various "pradhaabams" (praising themselves for their own spuriously great deeds) and kids play around in the house. In one of the photos I come acoss a beautiful girl I had never seen and I aks my mom who this is. My mom replies : "she is the one who has a muslim connection". I asked her to give more details at the same passing a jocular remark : "sema kattax ma..avanukku mattum kedakkama pOyirundhaa, naan ivaLai sight adichchu kalyaaNam paNNiNdu irundhiruppen".
At that juncture a beautiful girl child (aged may be 3) dressed like an angel in white churidar with a dot in forehead comes and says amidst baby jibber : "amma paththi apdi sollaadheenga". I am shocked to hear such a defensive stmt from a kid and I was sure there was some other person who had asked the kid to say those words. Then my mom said : "She married a muslim guy and their marriage fell apart. Both of them did not want this kid and parted ways. Nobody knows where they are and that man is the caretaker of this kid", pointing to a person sitting in the chair.
I go near him and instantly recgonize him as Driver Chandran's brother ! I said : "It was just a casual remark that a guy passes after seeing a beautiful girl. No disrespect to your sister". He is happy I could recognize him immediately and accepts my apology and says :"Well, not that I care for my gone sister, just a way to maintain my family dignity". Then I ask him : "so baby archana is with you ?" He says : "Yes" (in an insipid tone), "vera vazi illai..enna seyyaradhu..irundhuttu pOgattum nu naan dhaan vaLakkarEn".
At that point I recognize that there is no love in his tone at all for that cherubic child. I slowly get dragged towards the child and start playing with her. She gets close with me pretty fast and that was not seen very welcome by all the other relatives. It was time to board the city-bus and go to Hotel aaryaas for a family dinner. As all board the bus, there are many people insinuating that archana should not be accompanying us. People were using standard tactics like "archchu, aaththula pOy cheeppu eduththuNDu vaa..archchu aaththai baththiramaa paaththukkO" etc..I ask why they are avoiding archana and they reply : "She is a shame to our family. Naalu pEru naalu vidhamaa pEsuvaa koottiNdu pOnaa". I become totally enraged and shout at all of them : "Be human and give the child a break - she is barely three and has no idea what the hell you people are talking about. She is coming with me whatever be the case." People go silent listening to my mad outburst. I get the tickets for all of them to hotel aaryaas and I board the bus. Nobody is ready to give place to the kid ! Thambu mama - my dad's bestest friend - gets the kid on his lap. I mistake him for not giving place either and blow my fuse : "mama, neenga koodava ?" Mama says - "Murali, I am having her on my lap because I love her". I am so ashamed that I take thambu mama's hands and apologize. I sit next to him with archana and there is another kid in the bus which shares my lap with her.
But on the way we get down and I go get my bike. Hero honda. Putting archchu in the front I drive slowly with her and reach tirunelveli junction where my parents are standing in front of the Roshan shop.
Appa:" Where are we eating ?"
I: "appa, aaryaas ku thaanE ticket vaanginEn. Anga pOy iRangaliya?"
My dad seeing my deep attachment by this time with archana says :
Appa: "Murali idhellaam thEvai illainnu ninaikkarEn".
Puzzled I ask him : "ennappa solrEL ?"
Appa : "indhak kozandhaiyai nee ipdi koNdu suththinaa naaLaikku neraya problem varum. Idhellaam unakku puriyaadhu. Nee chinnap payyan"
I : "ennappa solrEL ? Naan chumma indhak kozandhaiyODa pEsaradhE thappa ?"
Appa: "nammaththula ellaam indha maadhiri yaarum muslim I ellaam kattiNdu pOgalai. Indhak kozandhaiyOda sagavaasam vENdaamE"
My mom seems to be nodding for the same. I become enraged at that point once again. I tell my dad: "appa, whoever comes and whatever happens, I am not going to let this child go. I am adopting her."
appa: "adhellam sarippadadhu pinnaadi neraya.."
I interject and say : "Sorry pa. I have decided. She is my child. I am keeping her whatever comes. I will face that for sure" and hug archana siting on the fuel tank in the front.
============================
Thambu mama is dead for three years now and the respect I have for him is immense. I guess this whole dream comes out of my earlier idea of adopting a child, playing with vaishali - sathish's daughter yesterday - and eagerness to visit family. My mom and dad, as I know are not the ones which speak the above lines. They are compassionate and human. I believe all the dialogues originated from various parts of my paranoid personality :)
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