It all began with the snooze button of my phone.
I set three alarms on my phone everynight. The first goes off one prior to the time I m supposed to wake up which my subconcious self has become immune to that I click the off button the moment it rings. The second one goes off half an hour later and I m on the verge of getting concious. I conciously off that button and sleep in the bliss that I have another 30 minutes to sleep!
The last alarm goes off at the precise time I plan to wake up and well that is the deciding alarm-whether I will wake up and be on time or snooze it and rush around all day...
The last alarm rang at 6.. I raised my hands from the sheet and sleepily clicked the "SNOOZE" option. The snooze option meant that the alarm would again ring after 10 minutes.
thats my phone :)
10 minutes later...
Oh shit! I have slept for half hour extra!! It's 6.30.. What the hell happened to Snooze!!
Without sparing more thoughts on it I rush to the bathroom..
Alas! My brother has already captured it.. I hurry to the other room.. Dad has gone in just a minute back and shouts out, "Wait for sometime."
I waste no time and start making tea. While the tea boils I pack my lunch( which mom has already prepared) and fill my water bottle ( I drink loads of it :P ).
Since I haven't yet brushed my teeth, the tea remains in the kitchen while I go hunt for my clothes. The ones I find suitable aren't ironed!! So I go about ironing them..
I keep dashing out to check the time.
Its 6.45..
Bro finally comes out and I quickly brush my teeth before having my tea and breakfast. Another 5 minutes and I go in to the bathroom again.
7.10
I m ready in record time and about to set out when it starts raining.. I search around for my umbrella.. When I finally find it Mom shouts out, "Have you taken your keys?"
Oh Shit! I don't have my keys.. I again ravage my room to hunt for the keys.. I don't find it..
It's already 7.20 and that means I missed my bus. I stop searching for keys and run out to the bus stop..
7.25.
I usually catch the 7.15 bus which reaches me to the station in time to board the train at 7.47 am.. I missed the bus and consequently I will miss the train.. I make last moment decision to get in to the bus that takes me to the next station to catch the same train..
Its 7.30.. The 7.47 train which leaves my station goes to the next station and from there it again loops back to my station and then ahead. I loop back so that I may get a seat ( I need a seat to complete my sleeping quota of 8-8.30 am) but now that I have to climb from the supposed starting point, I have to forget about my seat.. and pray that I don't succumb to suffocation.
I go to the next station and its 7.55.. The train reaches there at 8 or so I m told by people on the platform. I go to the platform number 9 (this is the first time I heard of it) and all I see is long train tracks adjacent to a stony area on which there is a sign board saying Platform 9 (when did this platform come into being and why is it in such a dilapidated state!!)
I see only women on this platform and wonder what the hell is going on.. This train is not even a LADIES SPECIAL train.
I see the train approaching at a distance and I also see women scattering all about the platform.. The train is dangerously close to the place we are all standing.. I move back.. A woman dressed in navari sari (the 9 yard sari) tells me that if I move back I will be pushed and not be able to get in.. Stay close she says..
I m intimidated by the entire episode. I don't see any familiar faces.. Heck I don't even see the familiar style of dressing! They are all dressed in local clothes (something you don't see in first class at least).
The train halts very close to us and is suspiciously silent. No shouts of people getting out and people crowding to get in.. No usual whistling of the train.. It is dead silent..
I get in and see that there is no one on the platform, neither did anyone board the train with me..
I enter the train nevertheless and I m startled.. The usual seatings have changed.. They are no longer blue and the compartment is no longer green.. The entire coach is white! milk white and added to that they are two seated rows.. like in buses.. The seats face towards a LCD TV! Omg!! What the hell was I witnessing!
I m at loss.. I see people (the actual type of female passengers I see in train daily) sitting calmly.. No usual chattering going on..
A woman dressed in white blouse and red skirt approaches me. She has her hair tied in a bun and she is wearing scarlet red lipstick.. Her face has hints of makeup and her eyes are heavily lined in black. She is the only one looking human.. The rest are all busy typing on their laptops or staring blankly at the screen.. I look like an outcast.. no belonging here.. or rather transported into another world.. She leads me to a seat and gives an assuring smile..
Next moment I m standing at the Santacruz station abuzz with people.. There is the usual crowd of people.. people moving in a hurry to reach their office in time.. Students waiting on the bridge for their friends to arrive so that they can all go together in an auto.. Daily workers roaming around to search for work. A long queue of people at the bus stop.. The urchins sitting on the stairs of the overhead bridge.. everything was same...
I think hard about what just happened to me.. I feel teleported....
I hear "tere bin aur na koi..." and look around..
Its ringing right in my ears and I open my eyes...
Shitttt!! I snoozed it twice and its actually 6.30!!! I have been in another world all this time and this is really happening to me in reality now!!
The next moments were mirror of what happened to me then.. The same delay the same things.. It was prophetic.. Except that in reality I got the next bus at 7.25 and looped back in another train and reached college late..
There is no platform 9.. I often wonder what the origin of that dream was.. Neither did I think of plane or of Harry porter movies.. nothing.. The day before I was leading a completely normal day with no such thoughts.. Then what inspired this dream? Was this dream a mere jumble of thoughts deep ingrained or was it prophetic? Some message which the subconcious knows and wants to convey to the conciousness via the dream??
Mystic, ain't it??
P.S I get many such dreams which are intriguing and mysterious but the only difference here is that I remember this one in all details..
I got the inspiration to write about it from Blasphemous Aesthete who pens them down so beautifully..
