Dreams

Often we hear people say, "Oh, I had this dream last night. I am quite worried/ embarrassed/happy about it. Will it come true?"

What are dreams? One school of thought is that it is some form of ESP(Extra Sensory Perception) by which the human mind communicates with some supernatural intelligence and grasps knowledge which is normally beyond our reach. I would love to hear their justifications for the wet dreams that I guess almost every teenager has experienced.

At the same time, there another line of thinking. It is as follows: "Dreams are just a meaningless mish-mash of whatever has been running through our heads throughout the entire day. There is no meaning to dreams whatsoever. Ignore them. "

What I believe is, both points of view are somewhat correct yet not entirely correct. According to me, dreams serve two major purposes. One, they are something like a refresh function for the brain. Whenever we focus on one particular activity or thought for a long period of time, our brain gets overloaded. To clear our minds, we dream at night. These dreams often involve "a mish-mash of whatever has been running through our heads throughout the day". These dreams are quite a reliable indicator of what is currently occupying your mind. Analyzing your dreams will help you to understand yourself better.

There is another reason why we dream. Even when we sleep, though our conscious mind is inactive, our sub-conscious mind is still working. So the 'problem' which you were fussing on throughout the day is still being solved even in your sleep. Of course, the sub-conscious mind works in a very different manner as compared to our conscious mind.

Let me illustrate this with the well known example of the scientist 'Kekule' who figured out the structure of Benzene. In the time of Kekule, the structure of Benzene was a great mystery. None of the scientists of that time knew how to solve this peculiar problem as benzene did not conform to any of their known structures. Kekule was also working on this particualar problem. One day, after puzzling over this problem for quite a long time he went to sleep. In his sleep, he had a very peculiar dream. In his dream, he saw lots of snakes. After a while he noticed that these snakes were all arranging themselves in a particular manner. Soon the pattern beacame clear to him. It was the double bonded hexagonal structure which we commonly use for Benzene. As soon as he woke up, he wrote out the structural formula for Benzene and Voila! it was a perfect match.

So, did ET(or maybe 'Jadoo') come and give Kekule the structural formula for Benzene, or, was it just some stupid design that he saw in his dream which happened to match up?

What I think is, whenever we fuss too much about something, these thoughts seep from our conscious mind to the sub-conscious part too. Unlike our conscious mind which works in a very logical ordered and sequential manner, our sub-conscious mind functions completely opposed to it. However, sometimes this approach is exactly what is needed.

So, dreams are quite useful to us. They enable us to clear our thoughts, freshen our mind and occasionally even help us in solving our problems!

Keep dreaming!!

Fear of the Future

Will I be able to feel secure,

wherever I go, I hear the death's call,

"Die, die, die . . . . "

These are the lyrics of a song by the Doom Metal Band 'Grave Flowers', rather ironically titled "Fear of Future".

I fear these lyrics chronicle the way we Indians, and more specifically, we Mumbaikars have been feeling.

Everybody is scared and angry(Just read some of these smses being circulated). Seeing this mindless carnage, many of my friends have decided to join the armed forces and help the country.

I guess this is the mindset of the majority in this country at this point. I don't know whether this is right or whether this is wrong. Many will join soon to find their fervour ebbing later.

Do what you think is right, but think with your heads, not your hearts. And once you've made your decision, follow it with all your heart.

Will I be able to feel secure,

wherever I go, I hear the death's call,

"Die, die, die . . . . "

The Age of Innocence

"The age of innocence is fading like an old dream . . . . "

These are the lyrics of Iron Maiden's songs "Age of Innocence". I was listening to this song the other day and I was led to think about the relevance of this song to today's world.

Today, the emphasis is on growing up as fast as possible. Toddlers in kindergarden are taught how to hold a spoon and fork, how to say "Thank you" and so on. If this is not enough, there are the stories of child-soldiers. These children, who should be going to school and playing with friends are trained to handle weapons and to fight a war which was never their's.

Truly, the age of innocence is only a dream today. If only we would realize that the days of childhood once lost will never return . . . .