A dear reader of mine has tried to interpret the meaning behind the dream I had the other day. It was very impressive. What follows is the entire text of the email that I got from him. It might not be the truth but it surely gives a good perspective. His words are in blue font:

The Place

I was quite familiar with it. It was the bedroom of the house where I grew up but the outside environment seemed different. Outside, it seemed more like an appartment. I did not have an outside view since I was inside the room throughout but from inside the room, I could clearly notice people moving left-right/right-left on a verandah. If not an appartment, maybe it was a hostel building or something. (If you are still in Delhi , your urge to be at your home town and the compulsion to be in Delhi are conflicting each other. The visualization is just an outcome of the same)

What happened?

I dont know how but I seemed to be aware that every morning, a band of snakes, cobras I guess, about 7-8 of them, (maybe the number of subjects you have to fight with for the Civil Services Exam in the form of snakes…… and every day morning you have to start the same exercise) would stand in front of the door (outside the room facing me) and sway from side to side – some sort of a ritual? Even those who passed by my room, who I felt I was aware of, seemed to know that the snakes do this every morning – it was completely normal. (yes those pass by seems irrelevant because you know that you are staying there for studies and outsiders know the fact and they are no way connected with this) In fact, they werent afraid even a bit (because they are not in the examination process) and moreover, they felt that it was a good thing or something, so they used to ridicule me lightly because I showed an aversion to the snakes. This was the first morning.

Coming to the second morning. I just woke up, looked out the door-lens and noticed that the snakes hadnt turned up yet. I knew they would soon and begin their nonsense, so I locked the door. There were two doors – the one with the wiremesh (the mosquito net sort of door we use) – and of course, the standard wooden door behind this first door. I closed them both. I was just moving around the room, very relaxed I was – it seemed a nice morning.

A while later, I just went to the door to have a peek to see if the snakes had turned up. Yes, they did and they were doing what they usually do. I thought they were silly and just moved away and went back to my “moving around the room” thing.

Moments later, I dont know what happened. The scene changed completely. I went to the door, noticed that the snakes werent there. So, I opened the wooden door – which means the wiremesh door was still closed – and I was concerned with what I saw. I knelt down and I saw a girl, about 8 -9 years old, who was also kneeling down, facing me but concentrating on what she was doing instead. She looked innocent, poor, her hair looked soily, ( just the representation of the child you had seen on the street who was begging or so to you which you had narrated sometime back) seemed to have some sort of a cold determination to do what she was doing because while I was looking at her, she didnt move, even for a second, her eyes from what she was doing. At the same time, there was an air of casualness about her. It was as if she was doing something very routine. What was she doing, by the way? She was just trying to – I dont know what, dismantle the door (the wiremesh door)? Because she was pulling out thin-but-slightly-long pieces of wood from the bottom of the door – with bare hands. Weird but nothing harmful. Well, that’s what I thought initially and then, something else came into the scene – a tiger.

It was there beside the girl. It was lying down sideways (parallel to the door), its fore legs were stretched out in front of it, and was very intently focussed on what the girl was doing. The girl seemed to be dismantling the door piece by piece and the tiger seemed to be waiting. WAITING!

Then, something even more weird – the main wooden door was missing! I was desperately trying to put back the pieces which the girl removed but the girl was removing them again – we were competing against each other. I tried but I knew I wouldnt succeed. She was too adept and fast at what she was doing and it would be a matter of minutes, maybe just seconds before a huge opening will be made in the door, huge enough for the tiger to pass through! (The door seems to be some sort of your security. I interpret it in this way – you have a social concern more and deeply rooted and want to do something but your commitments are stopping you or you are helpless at this juncture due to other issues. Therefore these issues or your commitments are being used by you just to shield yourself or just to temporarily avoid the social concerns you have deep in your mind. At the same time, that concerns are slowing taking control over you….. could be)

I had to do something. I knew there’s no use competing with the girl. That was the only door. I couldnt get out of that room. My only choice – to get in the bathroom, lock myself in and call my dad. So, I moved quickly, grabbed by cellphone on the way to the bathroom and went inside and desperately locked it and started dialling my dad’s number. (Clearly shows to whom you have your full affection and security feeling… I just recollect an old tv serial – “UDAAN” – the story of a family where they struggle to get their girl child a good education and finally she becomes an IPS officer. One day when she was is in a big trouble – the senior police officer – calls her dad just to get the courage and she says she feels like to be in his hug as if she were only a 10 year kid…)

At that time, I woke up and I noticed, my heart was beating really fast and I was kind of very anxious if not scared. Of course, it was relieving to know it was “just a dream.” Previous “just a dream” events were more relaxing but not this one. This was hardly that relaxing. Sleepwise, I had great sleep – if I dreamt so deeply, I definitely had what they call REM sleep – enough sleep for the night. I got out of bed, grabbed my phone and saw the time – 5 AM or something – too early :p I went to the loo, came back to bed and wanted to sleep but couldnt. I was disturbed.

I frequently have a dream in which I begin to fall from a highrise building or some highly elevated edge and I wake up with a sudden twitch, ( this is a normal and a common dream among persons who are highly ambitious and also working with time constraints or chasing a time-bound target like an exam) especially strong in my legs. Other dreams that I have are less worrying though I remember a few really upsetting ones.

This particular dream counts among those upsetting ones. First thing, the snakes seemed to be cobras but I seemed to be aware that harming me would be the last thing they’d do and maybe that is also why I wasnt too bothered about them. For the record, I am generally afraid of snakes.

Second, the girl and the tiger. The tiger wanted to kill me, obviously. It seemed a hungry tiger. A hungry tiger will look for flesh and that’s completely natural. Though they dont eat human flesh, tigers are known to turn into maneaters. So, I am not bothered about the tiger – its intentions were clear. (Tiger I feel represent your Mains Exam – it is waiting to see whether your attention and intentions are getting diverted or not… just like it is waiting for the girl to make a hole so that it can come inside and catch you…. Relax. Don’t be afraid of it. Since it can come only if there is an opening and you are taking the protective step….like moving to the bathroom or so)

But who was the girl? Why was she trying to help the tiger kill me? She seemed really intent on getting me killed.

What do I interpret from this dream? What was my mind trying to tell me?

Dreams are highly symbolic, in that the objects that you see in the dreams might just be symbols for other objects. Words are symbols of thought. When you’re awake, you can speak, so you can express your thoughts. When we sleep, the brain doesnt. It keeps thinking. Maybe it adandons reason but boy, it does think – wildly at times – but the problem is when we’re sleeping, we cant speak. There’s no outlet to our brain’s thoughts. So, maybe it invents symbols by itself to represent the objects involved in that thinking event we call a dream. So, the tiger may not be a tiger actually but a symbol for something hungry, something that wanted to kill. The snakes might’ve actually been something that were out there to protect me but werent there when I needed them (imagine 7-8 cobras biting the tiger!)

The girl, on the other hand, might’ve represented someone who wanted to get me kiled and was desperately trying to help those who were ready to do so.

Well well! My mind is trying to tell me someone is out to kill me? Just an intuitive interpretation. All farce, all farce, of course. It was just a dream but something just doesnt feel right. For the record, I am in relatively great mental health these days.

Good morning by the way! The sun is out, wake up! (Leave all these things for the time being…………… you have miles to go before sleep…. Don’t walk keep running…….. ALL THE BEST)