Dreams come true

Dreams come true.

I was still in bed reminiscing the dream last night. My youngest grandson in UK while eating a slice of horrible looking bread dripping with butter and jam was saying:

“Grandpa, this is so tasty”

The way he was scuffling to eat the bread dripping with excessive butter and jam made my stomach turn. It was just a normal dream but I woke up to an upset stomach.

An upset stomach awakening me is nothing unusual but, in this case it was the dream of nausea that awakened me. That too is not extremely unusual because we often wake up dreaming urinating at unusual places when in reality our bladders are full. We just rush to the bathroom and empty our bladders.

But, this dream made me think of dreams and took me down my memory lane. I am no expert in dreams or the workings of human anatomy. Neither am I an interpreter of dreams. But simple logic fascinates me. Why did my upset stomach send me a signal through a dream. It simply could have woken me up.

My thoughts flashed back to the late fifties when I was just a small kid of probably 10 years. We were in Kandy and unlike most of the coastal areas is blessed with a cooler climate. Dreams come more often in cool climates or at least, so we believed at that time and that could be true to some extent because the tendency for a deeper sleep is more in a cooler climate.

At that time we closely associated with a newly wed couple of teachers around 200 m away from our place. We called them Perera aunty and Perera uncle and frequent visits between the two families knit a very close friendship between us.

One night in my dreams I was digging our backyard with my dad when suddenly we came across a human skeleton. My dad gave me a bone and asked me to go and give it to Perera uncle. It was more than a dream. I felt as if it was real. Usually I do not remember most of the dreams when I wake up but, this dream stuck and felt real. I was quite upset at this dream.

While I was having my daily bed tea prepared by my mum Perera uncle came with the sad news that last night aunty delivered a stillborn baby. We did not know that she was even admitted to the hospital at that time. It had been sudden and Perera uncle had not informed us because it was too late in the night. That was my first experience with a dream coming true.

Are dreams another form of intuition beyond rational calculation? Does intuitions come as dreams if at that time you are asleep. If intuition is the voice of a radio can a dream be called the voice combined with pictures in a television?

I would have been around sixteen years old and I was still in Kandy associating with the toughest kids in the neighbourhood. Our minds were set for mischief and never feared to take risks.

Amidst a private property that belonged to a catholic missionary we used a clearing as our playground and the church never objected to it. We were never a bother to them too. The adjoining land was a private property belonging to a prominent family. It was a coconut estate and we often quench our thirst with young coconuts. Of course this was without their permission and often they complained and we acted innocent.

On this day my friends came and asked me to join them on a young coconut pilfering spree. I never miss this kind of mischievous acts but, on this day my intuition decided otherwise and told them to cancel this. When they asked me why, I had no excuse to give. I wanted to stop them but they decided otherwise.

One of the boys were shot dead by a newly appointed watchman within the boundaries of the land. None of us were aware of the presence of a watchman.

That was a narrow shave that went in favour of me because of just an intuition which came to me very strongly. Can it be termed a dream without the picture. I did not know at that time and neither will I know everafter.

Dreams come and dreams go away. But there are dreams that stay with you forever. Is it correct to call them dreams? Can dreams be interpreted correctly and safely. How did people like Nostradamus in France predict the future so accurately.

Almost during the same period of time in my life I had two friends, Stanley and Pieris. Stanley was a very tall guy, only son of the family with 3 sisters while Pieris was the eldest and a very short guy. We were best of friends and Stanley even at that age was a good driver and with his height never gave Police the impression that he is a minor. Stanley’s father ran a second hand car sale business in Kandy which gave stanley access to a range of cars.

We were always seen together around the lake, in the city, at cinemas or at the playgrounds as the best of friends.

On this day Stanley wanted to teach myself and Pieris to drive. He was planning to steal a car from his dad’s collection and since his expertise was motor mechanism, he did not need keys to start a car. Steering locks were not heard of at that time and he opened any door with a hacksaw blade or a piece of steel wire within a few seconds.

I was asked to stay awake and they were going to pick me up late at night. When the time came I sneaked out of my room through the window and walked upto the main road. On the way my intuition was working hard asking me not to go. I was really keen to learn driving but on this day I went up to the waiting car and gave them some silly excuses and watched the two of them go away.

The next morning on my way to school I stopped at Stanley’s house and his sister came out with the bad news. Both Stanley and Pieris were in the hospital with severe injuries. The car had gone down the precipice at Kadugannawa and it had been a total wreck.

What made me take that decision not to join them is still a mystery to me. I do not believe in God to date. The word God is never in my vocabulary. I hate God. But I love dreams and intuitions. They have always been a part of my life.

My friend Mune, a close acquaintance of my family came to visit me in Galle. I had my own house with a huge garden in Galle while my ancestral housr was only a few hundred meters from mine. My sister lived there with her family along with my mum and dad while my elder brother lived in Kandy.

Mune wanted to visit my mum and we covered this small distance on foot leaving our cars at home. Quite unexpectedly, I saw my brother’s car parked opposite the house. When I went inside my mum was all dressed up in white and she looked very tired. She had a bad heart and was a severe diabetic. Even though she was under medication there was no apparent risk. My brother had sent his car to take mum to his house over 200 kms away.

I became furious and asked her not to go. The car had already come all the way to pick my parents up. I kissed my mum goodbye and started walking back home almost in tears.

“I am never going to see my mum alive again”

Words sprang out of my mouth while my friend stood dumbstruck. Even I could not explain why I said that. I have already said that and I cannot take that back. My words had gone into the endless space.

Two days later my brother in law brought me the bad news. My mum suffered a severe heart attack and was dead.

It was intuition but, I call it a dream with no pictures that came true putting me into deep agony. I could have put my foot down and stopped my mum from making that journey. Too late. As a very quick and harsh decision maker with an iron fist forcing others to obey, I could have delayed my mum’s death.

I was in Qatar working for a local company practising my profession in comfort. But I missed my family who were in Sri Lanka. Viber, whatsapp or any other facilities were never heard of at that time and the cheapest way to call home was to buy a phone card. It was routine to call my wife every Friday morning since in Arab Fridays are the off days.

On this particular Thursday I felt so lonely and missed my family so badly. I went to bed and despite my sleep elusive mood, I went into a deep sleep with thoughts of my family.

Then I floated. I was dreaming. But, it was not a dream. A dream so real. I floated and floated. Yet I was so relaxed. That feeling was so relaxing, I cannot explain with words. Then I saw her. She was sleeping. I kissed her.

There was an explosion. An explosion without any sound. I felt it as a jerk. A jerk that woke me up, dripping in sweat despite the AC working to its full capacity. I looked at the watch. My wife should still be in bed despite the time difference.

The next day morning I called her. I told her that I dreamt her without giving any details. She said that she dreamt me too. I asked for details and she confirmed that I came and kissed her on her forehead. That was exactly what I saw and felt. So it was real.

Human mind is yet untouched by science. I have heard about astral body leaving your physical body. Was that it? Did my astral body leave my physical body?

I was in UK with my daughter and her family. Their assignments as consultants in their respective fields of medicine brought them to UK. At that time in the year of 2012 she had only one child and I went to UK to look after her while both are at work. We all are early birds and wake up around five every morning.

On this particular day I had a dream. My dad who passed away in the year 2000 came to me in my dream. It was so real. He told me that he had already asked my brother to join him in his business in Kandy. My brother was an Architect and sometime back worked in Brunei and now he is in Sri Lanka. The dream was so real I woke up and the time was 5 in the morning.

I came out to the kitchen and put a kettle of water to boil when my daughter came. I told her about the dream.

“Not a good sign for your brother”

We barely finished our coffee when the phone rang and my wife gave me the sad news of my brother passing away at Durdans, a private hospital in Sri Lanka.

Dreams are common and has no resemblance to our  day to day activities but, some dreams are so real. They directly or indirectly indicate your immediate future. I do not know how.

PS: Stanley died at Kalubowila at a very young age after a fatal road accident while driving his own car and Pieris drowned at Mahaweli also at a very young age.