Do dreams convey a meaning? I don’t mean those day-dreaming (which I do a lot); I mean those that occur during sleep. Many a people have shared with me, instances where events were foretold in dreams. I didn’t give careful thought to dreams until recently. I discussed with my mother, when she was here with me last month, and she had many examples to cite from her life. That got me interested. I tried recollecting any dream that I could remember and I could recollect only one that occurred during 3rd year of college, which remains so fresh. Guess it was a warning for the life to follow!

In that dream, a snake chased me and I kept running. After a while, I said to myself, “I am not going to run, but going to stand up to the snake”. I could sense a dilemma (still in the dream), “What if the snake bites?” Yet, deciding against the doubt, I stopped running, turned back and stood firmly facing the snake. To my surprise, the snake stopped chasing and stood at a distance.

I shared this dream with a senior and he interpreted it as, there are going to be troubles chasing you. As long as you run, they are going to keep chasing. Stop and face them, you’ll be able to handle. (Note that the snake didn’t disappear).

As I look back, it has been true. Ever since the dream, I had a roller-coaster life. I was able to stand up, face and effectively handle whatever life threw at me, except one incident. In that particular incident, my whole family was pulled in and that brought a huge pressure on me and I, instead of fight, chose flight as a way of handling. It turned unpleasant and left a scar in us. Till today, I feel guilty (and sometimes made to feel so by others) of not being a ‘good son’. Somehow all corrective actions have been futile.

Coming back to the topic, I decided to note down dreams that come along and observe them. I want to read, ‘The Interpretation of Dreams‘ by Sigmund Freud to find out what those dreams mean. But I am not so sure I’ll be able to do read it, as few priority items have crept in suddenly. If there are any interesting dreams, I may even post them here!

On Monday, my sister flew in to Chennai to train her colleagues in some IBM portal stuff. It was chaotic from the beginning. Training venue was not decided on Monday. And yesterday, when she finally gets to the spot, there were other amusing notes waiting for her – there was no A/C (it is practically not possible to sit and listen in this hot summer), the folks who had turned up were all more experienced, meaning they were looking for an advanced course and not the beginner’s course. After such comedy-of-errors, the training was cancelled. I went to see her in ‘The Park’, where she was staying. Wow! what a hotel! Its interiors are very modern. Anyway, we laughed over her trip tasting burgers and cocktails. Then I dropped her in the airport.

It amazes me, how unplanned all of these IT companies are, who claim to have best of the industry practices.

After feeding me with prawns and fish and helped me put on some weight, my parents are back to their home. Even my neighbors have gone to Coimbatore, looking for a college seat for their daughter. That leaves me all alone enjoying the evening sea breeze. Not exactly, I am not that lonely. My mom & neighbors had fed a street cat and it comes looking for food. Poor cat! What can it expect from me? I threw her few bread slices and she had no other food and had to eat ‘the-single-man’s-food’.

On Friday, I was supposed to meet few ex-colleagues and then go to a wedding reception. As I was taking a right-turn near Spencer’s plaza, a lorry (truck) scratched through the left door. Damn! Not on the same door. I just got it rectified. I was angry – it was the truck driver’s mistake and he went on yelling at me; I was disappointed – I was eagerly anticipating meeting those old folks and with this incident, I cannot. In total, I was pissed off. We had to pull off and wait for the police to arrive. After an initial investigation, I’d to go to D6, Anna Square police station and file a complaint to get a FIR.

By the time everything got over, a whole 3 hours had passed by. It amazes me how the police get the bribe, they never ask for it directly. (Unlike in many other countries, here in India, we have to bribe to get them do their job – as correctly mentioned in one Tamil movie). They request ‘donations’ to the police station to get chairs! Though it appalled me, I was not in a mood for any discussions. I just threw the money and got away. I played soft music and headed for a quiet place.

I didn’t give much thought to astrology until recently. When I read ‘Sun Signs’ by Linda Goodman, I was surprised that her words about Taurians were matching my personality to a large extent – except for one or two, all her descriptions, which went on for couple of pages, were true, including what I like to read – history and philosophy. That is when I got interested in astrology.

Thereafter I did a casual read of astrology predictions whenever I came across them, just with curiosity. Almost always, I forgot them once I kept the magazine down. However in the beginning of this year, I read about this year’s predictions and was discussing with a, then, colleague. For me it said, I would be interested in spiritual matters. Interpreting that as becoming religious, I was laughing with her, because it seemed a distant interest; though I’ve read almost all the known spiritual gurus from Jesus to Osho, I was not pursuing spiritual matters with any particular concern. Another one of prediction was that I’d have a whole new set of friends – that coincided with my decision to make new friends. For her, the stars dictated, a romance of her friend’s envy!

With just fifth month, almost, getting over, I am simply amazed how those predictions have come true. Indeed, I’m making new friends and believe me, I’m meditating on spiritual matters, more and more everyday. Hang on, I am not becoming any religious – not going to regular mass or temple service. However, I’m pondering over ‘deeper’ things of life! It may have to do something with those repeated failures that I went through in the past couple of years; yet this change didn’t happen in previous years! Every time, I make a new contact or absorbed deep in meditation, I realize that the stars said it so for this year.

And for her? It is true too. She is happily married to her long time lover and having a well-settled life.

I guess my life is going in circles. I don’t know if it happens in others life too. Today I met my PD (project director) and she said that they are looking into placing me as an offshore manager for a production support project. I couldn’t control my mind going back. Not only at job, but even at personal life, my life seems to repeat itself. Ok, it is not exactly a replica, but when I’m in a situation, I could say sometimes, “Hey, I’ve been here before!”.

The first two years when I went to Belgium was terrible in my personal life, but great in my official life. Then I made adjustments in my life and I had a life beyond my wildest dreams. I enjoyed it so much, that when I had to come back to India, I felt I’ve lost my love. Then in India, as regular blog readers would’ve known, I had to keep pushing the firm to get me into a project. After dragging for long, finally they got me into a production support project.

The initial years in India were not that great. Like earlier, I have lost my love and keep thinking of that. Now I try to adjust. I got into a new firm almost two months before. I’m yet to be given a project and if I get one, it is going to be a production support one. On the other hand, like before, keeping the sad moments to myself, I am learning to enjoy life. I just hope I don’t make the mistakes that I made in the earlier round!