A Pleasant Dream

The boardwalk seems to narrow ,the clouds are falling as if forced down by their own weight, the sea waves fourteen feet high scrambling to get me from one side and the houses dismantle upon from the other.

I am dashing forward ,running for my life to escape the atrocities which have suddenly soared out of nowhere. The sky roars loudly cursing me. Burning hailstones are hurled at me by dead skeletons of trees , I cannot even yell under my excruciating pain.

Then a great lightning thunder occurs , it bursts the ground into two making an impression of a blood artery and everything goes white.

Beep, Beep. "Dude wake up it is almost past seven "

ME:"Wh....What?"

"Yeah man it's your new record, slept for straight 12 hours.... huh! and oh ya your tubelight started working I myself fixed it up ,it is as white as your girlfriend...... huh!!

ME: “Shut up ..... you talkative imbecile..... don't you have something else to do study or something .....jobless idiot"

"Don't you remember exam's over ....moron am leaving for night cafe` "

My roommate leaves with a scowl on his face .I notice it is really past nine ,the minute hand way far the horizontal mark racing towards the second hand as if it is pissed off by the bias of speed. A large crushing sound distracts me and I keep the alarm clock face down only to keep away the ongoing race.

It is dark and raining heavily outside ,the precinct of our hostel building is abundant of gushing water and I see no living entity in the premises from my top floor window.

Rain gods have chosen the perfect day to ruin .Our semester exams ended just yesterday and we were all anxious to get a break before our next semester starts. No winter vacation this time ,the admin and rain gods are surely conspiring something awful and they are desperate this time.

I grab my handwash and head towards the restroom. It is chilly outdoor and the corridor seems strangely quiet ,it feels odd to walk through as the same area used to have buzzing groups studying for the exams discussing derivations, formulas and theory; some of them had tea cups mugging up every paragraph on every sip, taking down notes from the superior ones and simultaneously cursing the course. The scenario appeared to be that of a world war 3 planning session with group captains giving initial input to the soldiers on how to fight the war.

A cool breeze stimulates me out of my over imaginative trance .I reach the restroom only to find the tubelight flicker. It is a frightening scene ,feels like I am a part of an alien-invasion movie. The aliens have attacked the Earth and they are heading to make the human slaves. Any one them may come out of the bathrooms. I do not have a good feeling about this. I quickly try to mend the light problem by conventional (on/off)method. Luckily I succeed ;fear can really make humans do better than they can imagine. Now as the light is fixed everything again goes still and silent, so silent that the water drops can be heard. I switch on the tap to feel the water which is very cold, hesitantly I wash my face. Accidentally I notice myself in the mirror. I have a scruffy unshaken face, remaining too busy can take its toll on you ….oh!! the exams .

I head back with a wet face , the cool breeze almost freezes my face. I fasten my pace and reach my room where I find a bunch of my roommate’s classmates starting an online game session, worst part of this discovery being five of them are on my bed.

Frustrated I ask “Where’s tanwar?”.One of them with blue eyes replies “He’s at Rajeev’s though he is soon joining us”.

“Useless creatures” I mumble

“What?” a fat one responses.

“Nothing just heading out” I grab my wallet and barge out. It has always been a problem for me to handle people when they touch my belongings, initially I used to protest but now I try to avoid their company , may be I am selfish but I enjoy to be myself. The situation of cold weather and frustration inside increases an appetite for a hot beverage. I reach the new Nescafé shop recently opened in the our hostel compound and order a cup of coffee. The shopkeeper takes a small cup and places it under the nozzle of the coffee making machine. He presses the brown key on the array of three buttons, blue, red and brown. The machine is old as evident from the fading color of the three keys, the blue one is the most faded meaning people prefer tea the most over coffee and green tea. The machine makes a shrill jet engine like sound , the coffee pours and the cup is filled exactly to the top level. I pay for it , carefully take the hot cup and head towards the stairs at the balcony of my wing.

The balcony is just perfect to witness the natural phenomena. One can see the water flowing down the sides of the building walls forming an astonishing pattern under the flood lights. The water drops fall on the tiled pavement and form a series as if performing a ballet. The rains have always developed an excitement inside me.

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I lean forward against the balcony support and extend my hand to feel the cool rain water. Swiftly the wind changes it direction towards the opposite and the droplets fall on my cheeks . I close my eyes to honour God’s blessing.

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Beep, Beep. "Hey idiot wake up. You are still sleeping, didn’t I wake you up at seven, you again slept huh!!........and why is this your face is sprinkled with rain water……..let me close the window"