Dream Journal #1 - Swim to an interview

Having wanted to do this for so long, it is today that I found the energy to actually start writing down my bizarre and Bollywood-like dreams in the form of a journal. I have seen a lot of weird things in my dreams, things and people that I think about all the time consciously and more often things that I never think about through my sane mind. I am not going to lie, this first story is very normal and believable and nowhere near to the extreme illustrations and imaginations i see everyday in my sleep. But hopefully, with this journal being a series of all my craziness, you would get to read a lot of those too.

If you follow me on LinkedIn, you would know that I do not aim for corporate jobs as of now and am more inclined towards research and higher studies. But as human mind is super unpredictable, I woke up sweating from a dream of missing an interview in a top consulting firm (a big non-technical company brand in our college). Before we go further, it is a disclaimer that I have replaced all the names with random and unknown names for confidentiality (read: embarrassment) reasons for my friends.

The dream begins with or at least as far as I can remember it to begin with a usual morning in my life with two of my best friends, Sakshi and Yukta. Me and my friends live in a completely different place from our real life hostel room. Some place which has ample amount of space for 3 people and feels like an actual home. Unlike the congested washrooms that we use IRL, this place has never ending halls covered with full size mirrors. It has spacious and clean bathrooms (something that we can't be grateful enough for) and yet we tend to be very casual about this blessed equipped life. We three get ready for our days and this is the moment where Yukta announces that Mayur (another one of my best friends) and I have been shortlisted for interviews for a top consulting firm and we have to be there in less than 20 minutes. Now this is a shocking news for me (even after reading the shortlisted list myself over and over again) because supposedly I did not even apply for the position and am miraculously selected for the second round (facepalm). Also, more so miraculously Mayur is there in our "girls" hostel room and is listening to our conversation. As naturally as one would expect his best friend to wait and leave for the interview together, I did the same and started getting ready. Here comes the fun part, because I never applied for anything in the first place and have a totally different career path, I have nothing prepared on me (several facepalms). I don't have my updated CV printed, no formal clothes for interview, nothing. Sakshi and Yukta jump into the entire process rather chaos of getting me ready and going. Yukta is typing a new resume for me as fast as she could. She then puts her flat palm in the space between the screen and the keyboard of the laptop and prints the entire CV on her palm. She lets out the ink on her hand onto an A4 sheet paper through her fingers and prints the CV (spider-man style).

I am panicking because I don't have formals for the interview. Sakshi on the other side is taking out her formal clothes from the attic (there wasn't one that I'd know). She is ironing the clothes by her blow. By her blow you guyss!! Anyhoo, I am frantically trying to be in time for the interview and it suddenly clicks my mind to call and talk to Mayur about this. (Spoiler alert: Heartbreak awaiting) Mayur very uninterestingly replies that he has already reached the placement department without me. At this point I am wailing and cursing him like nobody's business. I think I almost forgot about my own interview and only cared about the fact that he bailed on me. Yukta and Sakshi talk some sense into me (as they always do) and ask me to leave soon (remember the 20 minutes deadline that I have far passed). As I am running my way to the placement rooms, I encounter a visual that I am still laughing at. I don't think I can explain the scene as vividly as I remember it. The area between my college canteen and the placement department is filled with grass and pavement in real life. What I see here is a ginormous water body with depth as huge as the Ganges and a few stairs here and there. The pseudo Ganges is in its mundane dazzling light with religious people all around it. The sequence is as if from a movie depicting a celebratory Pooja at a Ganga Ghat.

The worshipers here seem to be oblivious to my situation or to the fact that they are half-naked and diving in the middle of a government institution. It is just me with my panic and the sudden urge to actually swim the freaking ocean (it looks like an ocean to a non-swimmer). Note that I did not want to sit for corporate jobs prior to this and I DO NOT know how to swim. Not even in my imagination! But somehow I do it. By some unreal power, I am able to cross that huge water body and reach on the other side. I know it is a bummer but I don't remember this part of the dream clearly and would not make it up just for the sake of the story. I reach near the department of placement and realize that it is way past the deadline and all my heroic acts would be vain. A guy that I do not like (IRL too) shows up and haughtily comments that he has saved me from debarring from the placement season and I can rush and give my interview. I very naturally make mockery faces as he turns his back. And unfortunately, I don't remember anything after this.

So that's my weird dream from last night. I usually remember the details vividly everyday. And trust me, the dreams get better and more imaginative than this one. Once, I created an entire Olympic game with all the rules and teams and costumes as a part of a dream. If you are someone who is interested in dream philosophy, look into these things and let me know if you can infer anything peculiar.

• People say that we can't read things in our dreams. It is just our projection of letters by our subconscious. But I always feel like I can read in my dreams. I am properly able to identify names and read billboards.

• I usually don't remember the endings to my dreams. I will not remember how a story ended.

• I very often see endless spaces in my dreams. I will have a feeling that I am in a room but I would not see any four-wall structures or any boundaries.

• I don't remember a dream if I sleep after waking up once. Say I wake up once at 7 am and remember a dream to the dots but if I doze off after this and wake up again at 9 am, I would not be able to recall anything however hard I try.

Hope you like this. You can share your views or your interesting dreams anytime through email or comments. I would love to know your thoughts about the few habits of my subconscious.