Chapter 2: The dream

I was wrong. There was something more in store which actually can be treated as the real beginning for this story. That night I had a dream. As a rule, I dont get too many dreams; very few of them are nightmares and I remember even fewer. This one felt so real, I could almost feel my opponent.

He was standing in front of me with sword in his hand and murder in his eyes. A girl in veil was standing and watching. We were having a sword-fight. I felt the blood rush my head as well. I hated him. I dont know why but I wanted to kill him as badly as he wanted to kill me. Thats when she moved a little. He looked at her. And in that moment of disturbed concentration, I forced his sword away from him and lunged at him. In a flash, the girl was between my sword and him. She died in his arms. I felt jealous but I was immobile with shock. My weapon fell from my hands. I went a little closer to them. I wanted to see her face. More than anything else. I had barely touched her veil. Before anything could register, he pulled out a dagger and he stabbed me over and over. As I was breathing my last few breaths I noticed her veil was off her face. The girl was Devyani.

I woke up in perspiration. It was 5.30.a.m. in the morning. I never felt this scared before. I badly wanted to talk to someone. I thought of waking up my room-mate. But it was not a good idea to get beaten up so early in morning. Then I thought of calling my mom. Again I could picture it. She would get anxious about the dream and angry that I did not call her at night. And it would end up being my fault. No. I did not want to talk to her yet.
Then I thought of Devyani. Could I call her?? How would she react? There was only one way of finding out.

"Devi??", I asked tentatively after dialling her number.

"Hello", a sleepy voice answered.

Me : "Good Morning!! Are you too sleepy to talk?"

Devi: "Yes. But I dont mind listening. Why are you up so early??"

Me : "What do you think??"

Devi: "Bad habit or bad dream. One of the two."

Me : "Right. I had a nightmare."

Devi: "So, you are dreaming of me already??"

Me : "Actually, yes."

Devi: "Really??"

Me : "Yes."

Devi: "I am all ears. Tell me."

I felt stupid. I was calling a girl and a girl i barely knew, because I was scared. Still I told her all. Conversation with her was the easiest thing for me. She did not mock me. She listened. Most importantly, she did not say a word about calling her too early. But I had to apologise.

"I am sorry I woke you so early. Now it feels so stupid and crazy. It was just a stupid dream. I would feel guilty about this forever."

She laughed.

"Its ok. I forgive you. I am anyway up by six."

"Oh my god!!! Why??"

"Did not lose those twenty pounds by sleeping and waking late. I exercise in the mornings."

She told me that she had a very tight schedule. She woke up early in the morning. Did her exercise for an hour. Then cooked her lunch for the day. Prayed for fifteen minutes and then went to office walking. Her office was close to her home. In the evenings she went for a swim. Had light snacks. Chatted with people at home and sleep at 10.30.p.m.

It was getting close to 7.30 by the time I was ready to hang up. There is something to be said about relativity. I did not realise that I had talked to her for two hours.

"Did I mess your schedule?"

"Yes. You messed my exercise and my lunch. But I dont mind."

"I should not have called you."

"Its really all right. I get some wierd dreams too. As a matter of fact -"

She broke off.

"What??"

"I just looked at the watch. I am getting late."

"I am sorry. You go on. Will call you later."

"Yeah. Bye. Just one thing. Call it a coincidence. I often dream of a village too. Anyway, we will talk later. Bbye."

"Ciao."

Wow. She talked to me. It felt so good. She missed her schedule for me. It felt even better. I was smiling when I came out of my room, when I was having bath, when I got ready, when I had breakfast and when I noticed my roommate looking at me in that irritating suggestive way. I did not want to care. But I wiped off the smirk off my face. And I started thinking.

What village did she dream of? What did she see? Why did I call her? Why did she not get mad at me? Why was I thinking of her? What should I tell my mom? More important, what should I not tell her??

I went to office and decided to go through the ordeal. I called up my mom.

"Mom?? Yesterday night...."

"Ooohhhhh....I knew you must have called. My cell phone died and I was at Mira aunty's place and your father had to go to Delhi and there was noone at home. I talked to Devyani's mom some time ago and she told me all that happened..."

Cool. I did not have to give any explanation. Apparently, Devyani had called her mom and she had told her mom everything. Mom was glad with the way I handled the meeting. She was sure we were going to be married. She already loved Devyani. I lost the track somewhere. Some part of my brain was chagrined that my mom never actually asked me what did I think. In normal circumstances I would have put down my foot and told her that. But this one time I let it go. Because this one time, both me and my mom were on the same track. We were both thinking of Devyani. And this one time, I did not want to think of anything else. I was not even worried about the gist. I was waiting for evening, when I could call her again. Make her laugh with me or at me. Hear her sarcastic remarks. Hear her talk. I wanted to meet her. I would ask her out on weekend.

"...Take her out again on this weekend. Dont force her. Just allude to it. It is seeming to work. Dont ruin it. Are you listening??"

Mom's voice was echoing my thoughts!! I jerked out of my daydreams.

"Yes mom. I will ask her out and if it is meant to work it will. And I will definitely not ruin it."

It was funny. I mean the synchronisation of my mater's and my thoughts. I actually was on the same frequency. And I really meant it. I was definitely not going to ruin it. I wanted this to work out too.