They people my dreams a lot...

What Do You Represent?

My dreams are more interesting than my everyday life. I usually dream about the same 5 or 6 people. Some of these people are not surprisingly… my sisters… a housemaid called Lata we had in the late 80s - a lovely girl who was slightly older than us and was like a cousin if not a sister. Lata used to sleep on a foldaway bed next to ours and kept her clothes in bags on the floor just next to my pillow. We two were the same size. I used to borrow her clothes sometimes. (Four tall young girls, full of dreams of the beautiful life that surely lay ahead, cooped up in a small room). Lata pops up occasionally in my dreams. I wake up expecting to see her in the adjacent bed. The room looks very different now with me as the sole occupant. What can I say? Back then I yearned to get away from it all and now will give anything to go back to it. Yes, I miss Lata and my sisters.

Among the other people I dream about frequently are not the following: the best friend from school, college or later; the horrendous relatives who made our childhood hell; any of my cousins; or even my parents whom I still have with me.

Of course, like you too (probably) I frequently dream about being back at school... and in my dream the school campus is peopled with present-day colleagues and other acquaintances... and we are all grown up. I won’t bore you further with that.

Anyhow, what surprise me are the frequent dreams I have about a couple of people whom I barely knew when our paths had crossed. One is an ex-colleague whom I would meet when they came to the same press conferences as I. They would talk very loudly I remember. Once or twice, I met them at the campus I studied in in England. I don’t recall much more of them except that they wore yellow a lot. And for all their loudness, they were a very polite person. They represented a more privileged upbringing and also a kind of social naiveté that I found very sweet. I think I envied them deeply. I dream about them at least once a month - usually insipid dreams. Though they never came out of the closet many of us suspect they are gay.

The other person I dream about a lot is someone who studied and worked with me briefly. They would dye their hair different colours. I have dreams where I see my back is wounded and this colourful-haired person is looking the other way but seems to be waiting for me to ask for help.

These two people have nothing in common that I know of, coming as they did from different countries, cultures and races. I'm not in touch with them, sadly.

Nighty night.