DREAM

DREAM
Date: 11-09-09
Time: It must be in between 02.00am and 04.00am. I woke up at 04.15 am.
A crowd of people out there was searching for their opponents in our locality, a peaceful people of different caste and creed. I saw the hunters had red bindi on their forehead and ear rings for their ears. They wore Kakhi trouser and white banian. They held lathis. They were all young men robust and well built. I knew none of them. The neighbors were running hither and thither for safe haven. I and my son hid in the upper cell of the kitchen of our Tharavad where firewood was kept. The head hunters found us. They dragged us jubilantly chanting ‘Jai ho matha’ along with our neighboring families. I saw my wife among them.
We were herded into a big hall. Where in the world? I didn’t know. We were deposited in a corner. There were many men in the hall, from very young boys to the very aged. The old people wore white aramundu. Some of them had Poonool. They were angry with us. Their look was vicious. I knew they were going to torture us. Why and what for? I did not know. They did not say. There appeared in the hall a couple of men vested in yellow juba and white pants. They seemed to be their leaders. One of them pointed me to his followers and said, “Hi, look at that old man. He seems to be the senior. Take care of him at first.”
Immediately a couple of handsome young men marched towards us. They picked up me from the crowd and dragged me. They laughed at my shabby figure. They poked fun at my dress. They ridiculed me for wearing a scapular that betraying my religion. They verbally abused me. They handed me to their elders. The elders looked like Brahmin cooks in temple kitchen. They pulled away my scapular from the neck and the white mundu from my waist and threw them into the oven. I stood there stripped and naked. They made me sit in an uruli. I closed all my windows of my body to the outer world. I went inside my self. They poured steaming hot water on me liberally. They sprinkled rasam all over me. They rained on me sauces and curries over my head. I just remained stony like a Sivalingam. After an hour they poured cold water lavishly. No one was talking to me.
When the seniors finished with me the youngsters took up. They burnt my index finger with match box. It burnt and swelled like papad. They hit me with cigarette buds and also with burning needles. They shot me at my forehead by their slings. Bang… Bang. Stone pellet could not move my head an inch. They shot at my rear head. My head withstood.
When the turn of youngsters was over, kids took over. They were four in number. They were dressed like Sri Krishna. They raised their right hand. Rays of light like comets rushed towards my face and hit. They couldn’t enlighten my face. My face looked like black bronze bust. Some of the children shoot Soolam. I raised my right hand and defended my face. They then shoot Trisoolams. I raised my left hand and arrested them. My wrist took the impact.
Suddenly there was a commotion in the hall. A man (like film star Saikumr (?) son of Kottarakkara) handsome, robust and tall vested in yellow juba and saffron mundu. He was whispering to the leaders. H looked at me several time. Once he stared at me for a long while.
I heard his lieutenants muttering to him “The old man’s unbreakable, looks like made of solid steel” Then I saw the leader gesturing with his fingers.
After a while the youngsters carried me to the backyard of the hall. They threw cold water at me. They then dumped me on the corner. I woke up from myself. I spread my tentacles to five windows of my body and opened them to the outer world. I could feel, smell, hear, see and taste my saliva. I saw my wife, son, and my neighbors being shepherded in a procession down the hill. I heard the shouting of hunters and the cries of the hunted...
Why this terrific dream (= loose, tangled and intertwined images like wild horses in a wide stable)? In conscious state one has control over the images in the mind’s store. In subconscious state one has no control over them. Images become children in a UKG class without its teacher.
I do not believe in dreams both good and bad alike as if they were fore-castes of my proximate or distant future. I do not subscribe to dream-ology. Nevertheless at this stage of my life I do have a few dreams. I hope to realize them before my sunset.