I was a dragon with huge wings flying into space. My speed was blinding and the surroundings were dimming away into a passing blur.
“Are we there yet?” I found myself asking the voice inside me.
“No, we are still one strata away from reaching the top most layer of the earth” the voice said.
“Did we not beat the best already? I’m getting a little tired now, I’m missing my family, and I’m missing the pleasures of my planet. Don’t you think we should go back?” I heard myself imploring the voice inside me.
“You are yet to become the best. You become the best only when you reach the highest peak. Relative victory is nothing. You’ve worked for five years now, what is one more year. Push yourself, more. You are just a whisker away from being unbeatable.” The voice was encouraging and commanding at the same time.
I saw the target I had to reach, the luring idea of becoming the best makes me ignore the pain building up in my joints. I spread my wings out completely and give it a bigger heave.
All of a sudden something in my wing bone goes snap and I see myself plummeting down into the vast emptiness beneath me.
“Help me. Please help me.” I call out to the voice.
“You have not achieved the ultimate success. You deserve this, DIE!” the voice says as it fades away.
I wake up with a start only to find myself in my king sized bed with my forehead breaking into a cold sweat.
“You are Rajiv; you are in Berlin on a work related assignment. You are still alive and that was a bad dream.” I mutter to myself. That makes me feel better as I survey the surroundings.
My job brought me to Berlin to deal with a supplier the prices of the equipment we needed for an upcoming project of ours. The operation of the equipment needed some extensive training and there I was in Park Inn Berlin-Alexanderplatz. The full glass windows with the curtains drawn out showed me a panoramic view of the beautiful city bathed in the dim light of the morning sun. I was staring into the landscape enjoying the emptiness in my head when a tower with a pointed edge with the rounded part in the upper quarter catches my attention. It sends an uncanny signal to my brain suggesting that today was something I should remember as important. I reflect for a moment, as nothing comes to my head.
I shrug the thoughts aside and look at myself in the mirror. I see myself, a disheveled man in his early thirties, still slim and well-built with a mop of curly hair that came close to my eyes. The stubble that used to give me an air of youth in my twenties looked ominous now. The random strands of white hair here and there didn’t help things much.
I hear my phone buzz with the missed calls and messages that I received over the last night. I sit back in bed, cross legged and open the first message from office. I breathe a sigh of relief was I read the contents. The message was from my friend.
“The transformer at the factory got fried last night due to an electric short circuit. It’ll take them a while to get the systems running again. We have a day off man. Give me a call when you wake up. We’ll go out and check what the city offers us today.”
The message was followed by the trademark wink, which makes a smile spread on my face. I read the rest which are work related details. I read the next which makes me remember what I was trying to recollect earlier. The message was from my mom.
“Son, today is Dusshera. I hope you remember the festival. I know you are busy in Berlin with your assignment. But take some time off and worship goddess Durga and seek her blessings. You’ll be amazed at the amount of satisfaction and mental relief you discover from it. Love, Mom.”
The message strikes a box of memories which opens up instantaneously sending me into a recollection of memories. They wash over me like a deluge as I go back into my childhood.
“Are we there yet?” I found myself asking the voice inside me.
“No, we are still one strata away from reaching the top most layer of the earth” the voice said.
“Did we not beat the best already? I’m getting a little tired now, I’m missing my family, and I’m missing the pleasures of my planet. Don’t you think we should go back?” I heard myself imploring the voice inside me.
“You are yet to become the best. You become the best only when you reach the highest peak. Relative victory is nothing. You’ve worked for five years now, what is one more year. Push yourself, more. You are just a whisker away from being unbeatable.” The voice was encouraging and commanding at the same time.
I saw the target I had to reach, the luring idea of becoming the best makes me ignore the pain building up in my joints. I spread my wings out completely and give it a bigger heave.
All of a sudden something in my wing bone goes snap and I see myself plummeting down into the vast emptiness beneath me.
“Help me. Please help me.” I call out to the voice.
“You have not achieved the ultimate success. You deserve this, DIE!” the voice says as it fades away.
I wake up with a start only to find myself in my king sized bed with my forehead breaking into a cold sweat.
“You are Rajiv; you are in Berlin on a work related assignment. You are still alive and that was a bad dream.” I mutter to myself. That makes me feel better as I survey the surroundings.
My job brought me to Berlin to deal with a supplier the prices of the equipment we needed for an upcoming project of ours. The operation of the equipment needed some extensive training and there I was in Park Inn Berlin-Alexanderplatz. The full glass windows with the curtains drawn out showed me a panoramic view of the beautiful city bathed in the dim light of the morning sun. I was staring into the landscape enjoying the emptiness in my head when a tower with a pointed edge with the rounded part in the upper quarter catches my attention. It sends an uncanny signal to my brain suggesting that today was something I should remember as important. I reflect for a moment, as nothing comes to my head.
I shrug the thoughts aside and look at myself in the mirror. I see myself, a disheveled man in his early thirties, still slim and well-built with a mop of curly hair that came close to my eyes. The stubble that used to give me an air of youth in my twenties looked ominous now. The random strands of white hair here and there didn’t help things much.
I hear my phone buzz with the missed calls and messages that I received over the last night. I sit back in bed, cross legged and open the first message from office. I breathe a sigh of relief was I read the contents. The message was from my friend.
“The transformer at the factory got fried last night due to an electric short circuit. It’ll take them a while to get the systems running again. We have a day off man. Give me a call when you wake up. We’ll go out and check what the city offers us today.”
The message was followed by the trademark wink, which makes a smile spread on my face. I read the rest which are work related details. I read the next which makes me remember what I was trying to recollect earlier. The message was from my mom.
“Son, today is Dusshera. I hope you remember the festival. I know you are busy in Berlin with your assignment. But take some time off and worship goddess Durga and seek her blessings. You’ll be amazed at the amount of satisfaction and mental relief you discover from it. Love, Mom.”
The message strikes a box of memories which opens up instantaneously sending me into a recollection of memories. They wash over me like a deluge as I go back into my childhood.
Comments