My Dreams Part III, Haunted OBH and Interaction Season

I saw this dream on 21st July 2005. This was during those days when I was a freshman in IIIT, Hyderabad. Interaction with seniors were fine, but sometimes terrifying.

"I was having my dinner peacefully in NBH mess with my new friends and batchmates. We talk about various worldly issues.
I find myself in Kapil's room in GHEB, with other batchmates talking about their experiences at OBH and how they were caught and taken to OBH and that the period of interaction with seniors had started. Some were too terrified to speak, others were telling us about the OBH.
A few people who went to OBH last night said that it was like a Haunted Hostel.
I saw the hostel from near the NBH, later that night and felt the same. It was covered with darkness and shadows of trees all around. It did look like a haunted and spooky place, except for the lightening part.
Next thing I saw I was trying to run away from OBH, but was trapped in the maze. There were walls covered with cobwebs all over and had broken window panes. Though I didn't see any of the seniors converting into ghosts, nor did I see any ghosts, I did see myself trapped inside some haunting spooky maze. I constantly had a feeling that someone was following me!
I remember being rescued by some senior wearing an overcoat and a hat (Pramod sir). Perhaps he was a mentor. He took me through some secret pathways and finally brought me outside OBH. We came out in front of NBH. He gave me his contact no. and also told me some secret mode of transportations, which I must use while traveling to and from OBH during night times, since some seniors turned into ghosts (though I didn't see anyone!)
I told about this to my batchmates and they are amazed and some still don't believe the idea of ghosts. Next day, I saw that mentor in NBH mess and we exchanged smiles. Gradually I discover that many seniors wearing overcoats and hats are there to rescue juniors when help is required. I witnessed a whole team of theirs."

Swimming and Nostalgia!

Since last week I've been going for swimming at the Gachibowli stadium adjacent to my college.
It feels great being in the water! Though I'm not much good at it and get tired very easily after swimming about 30-40 metres, I still like being in water and playing in it.
I like floating in water i.e., stopping my breath and leaving myself to it while experiencing buoyancy lifting me and keeping me on the surface.
I like moving my hands and legs in a dog-style.
I like going down straight(head up and legs down), while leaving my breath from my nostrils(which gives me the required force to overpower the buoyancy force coming from below), touching the bottom of the pool with my legs, giving myself an upward push from the bottom surface and moving up with a good amount of force through water.
I've been trying to cover greater distances with freestyle, but somehow I get exhausted after completing 30 metres or so. Breast stroke helps me cover larger distances(only 150 metres continuously swam till now).
One does get tired after swimming( I leave the pool after swimming for half an hour). After tiredness comes thirst and then hunger(sounds funny?).
Today, I was suddenly reminded of last year, when I used to go swimming in summers with my sister and after returning from the pool, my mother used to make two glasses of mango-shake(it used to be awesome!!) for me.
Finally I had to satisfy myself by drinking Cold Coffee at canteen.

Heroes! The reason I started watching it!

I was sitting in the canteen of my college, waiting for chicken noodles to arrive. Someone nudged me from behind. I turned back and saw Prateek walking by my side and coming face to face with me.

"So what are you doing now a days? Watching movies?" he asked.

"Not really!" Actually we were having summer vacations in college.

"Have you watched 'Heroes'?" he asked as he slightly bend towards me.

"No. Why?" I replied, confused as to why would he ask me such a thing. Though I had seen people watching 'Heroes' and praising it a lot, but I never felt like watching it. I thought that 'Heroes' would be a bunch of brave but good guys saving the world from bad guys and would involve some fighting. As I thought of image of 'Heroes' in my mind, Prateek replied, "It's awesome! Do watch it."

" What's it like?"

"It's like some ordinary people having super powers and they save the world. It's something like, "X-Men". But personally, I found it better than X-Men. And you do watch it. I'm sure you'll like it. It's a kind of stuff you'd like to watch."

This conversation made me rather curious about 'Heroes' and I decided to watch it that night itself. But DC++ was not cooperating.... I mean I couldn't download the initial episodes of 'Heroes' from intranet server. I could download the 12th episode and so I started watching it. The starting was good and looked interesting. I realized that this T.V. series was different than other T.V. series usually made. But I couldn't understand anything in 12th episode when I watched it for around 5 minutes. Luckily after 5 minutes, I got 1st episode downloaded and others were finally in line for downloading. I eagerly started watching the first episode.

Before I knew it, it was 4 in the morning and I had seen 5 heroes episodes, of duration of 42 minutes average. I decided to sleep.

When I woke up at 10 in the morning, I again continued watching Heroes. I had all the episodes downloaded during the night. I skipped my lunch and went for dinner but came back in 20 minutes. I watched it till 4 the next morning and completed all 20 episodes.

I watched 21st episode 3 days back. Waiting for 22nd and 23rd episode to be aired!

Heroes is AWESOME!! :)

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", Fan Fantasy.

Recently I have been searching for good e-books on the internet and hence have collected some novels and other interesting e-books by downloading them from rapidshare, fastshare and other such sites. Surprisingly, in an attempt to download 4GB of e-books, I came across a post in ProjectW.org, which said, "All 7 parts of Harry Potter".
I thought that the person might be kidding or something, but when I opened the post, it surely had rapidshare links to all the 7 novels, including, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!!"
I was excited and surprised at the same time. I thought that perhaps I'd be the first person in IIIT-Hyderabad to finish the 7th and the last part of the Harry Potter series. I quickly downloaded and started reading it.
The story started quite nicely and I was too excited to think about anything else. It said that Harry's cousin, Dudley was also a wizard!! After reading 20 pages, I read the replies to the post from where I'd got the link to this 7th part. I got irritated when people were accusing the e-book to be a fake and a fan fantasy and not original work of J.K. Rowling. I didn't believe that at first. To check for it's authenticity, I downloaded all the previous parts from the links given in the same post and read the starting of the 6th part of Harry Potter Series. I felt irritated and stupid, when I found the starting totally different from the starting of the real 6th part. I realized that 7th part was also a fake when I observed the writing style and the flow of events (of the first 20 pages I'd read) in the novel carefully. I too replied to the post by saying that all the e-books of Harry Potter are fake.
Later someone told me that the release date of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" is 7th July 2007, i.e., almost 2 months from now!!

My Dreams Part II

"... I found himself standing near a water cooler, on a deserted railway platform. I looked around and found no one. I was alone."

"... I barely managed to lift the heavy suitcase as I moved along with my parents towards the platform on which the train that we were supposed to board, was to come. As we reached the platform, we saw the train leaving the platform... next thing I knew I was standing with my father who was asking me to catch the train. My mother and sister were in the train. I started running with all my strength, from one edge of the platform towards the train, and on reaching the other edge, I jumped. I was surprised at how high and how far I had come from the platform, while still in mid-air. I saw below me, the train moving and I felt like I was almost flying over it. Suddenly I started falling down towards the train and was about to land on it's last bogie, when the train suddenly moved with infinite acceleration and I fell flat on the ground. I thought that I had broken my nose and teeth, but in fact, nothing happened(I felt as though nothing happened to me). I didn't feel any pain."

I had reasons for the kind of dreams I was getting and I wrote about it in my last post titled "My Dreams Part I". But I am totally clueless as to why do I see myself on railway platforms and in railway trains in my dreams. There have been plenty of such dreams.

"I couldn't think twice this time. It was my sister who was inside the A.C. compartment and I had to find her. She was not supposed to be in there. The door of A.C. is about to close in a few minutes(this is what I thought. Though there is a door, one is free to open or close it anytime! :D). I simply entered the A.C. compartment. I started finding her desperately, disturbing some of the (sleeping) passengers in the process. I was feeling cold, but I had to find her. I couldn't leave without her. I was responsible for her. After searching for a few minutes, I realised that she was not there(my sister is supposed to be 10 years old in this dream!). I thought that I might have made a mistake. I quickly walked towards the door I had entered the compartment from. The door was locked and I was trapped in that A.C. bogie. I was really feeling cold now. Along with that, suffocation started setting in. I couldn't breathe. I started breathing heavily from my mouth and shivered vigorously. I collapsed and became unconscious. Next thing I knew, I was standing in front of that same A.C. compartment, and the train had stopped at some station. It was sunny outside, perhaps it was morning time. My sister came to me, and said, 'Mom is calling you, come fast'."

Now, the reasons can be anything. It can be excessive train travels(not much in my case), fear of being left behind, alone, in a journey or maybe fear of meeting with an accident or loosing someone. Or maybe something else.

"I barely managed to lift my suitcase as I reached the platform. I had a confirmed ticket. I checked the railway charts and my name was there. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to carefully check my watch. I was getting desperate and looked at my watch. It again showed 9:30 PM. I was stunned. My watch had stopped. I looked at the clock on the platform and it showed 10:30 PM. I was 20 minutes after the departure time of the train. The train had already left. I couldn't get another ticket that day, and I was cursing myself for such a foolish behaviour. My father was waiting for me on the station, the train I had missed was supposed to take me to. Yes, it was a local train and I had to make a short journey. I had no money to use other means of transportation. I simply walked out of the platform and out of the station. The next thing I saw, I was at my hostel, GHEB. I was surprised, since I was supposed to be in Pimpri, Pune. A few minutes ago, I was standing in Pimpri railway station and now I was standing in a corridor in my hostel in Hyderabad. It was perplexing. I opened my room and kept my luggage in it. I went to the water cooler to have water. I had no money and there was no one in the hostel, no security guard, no newspapers on his table, besides which he sits(sleeps). All the rooms were locked. In the dead silence of the night, I was feeling afraid. In a fraction of seconds, the spookiness was multiplied manifold, when I heard Rahul calling me. I turned myself around and looked towards his room. Yes, he was standing at the door. I did not yell or shout, though my heart was pumping very hard. I felt a sense of relief in a way, but due to my past experiences of watching horror T.V. series like "Aahat" and "Zee Horror Show", I started having second thoughts that Rahul might be a ghost in disguise!
"Hi Senu! Why didn't you go home?" he asked me. He looked and talked like real Rahul!
"I missed the train. I was 20 minutes late. It's past midnight and moreover now I'm in 'Hyderabad'."
"Don't worry Senu, you'll reach home. If I lend you some money now, when'll you return it to me? When'll you come back from home?"
"Exactly after 3 weeks."
I took the money from Rahul. It was 500 Rs. and started walking towards my room, thinking of booking a bus-ticket for the next day. While I was walking, the hostel corridor changed to the railway platform I was earlier on. I had 500 Rs. in my hand but it was still 10:35 PM. I walked to the reservation counter and bought a ticket for the next train going to Pashan, Pune."

Some things are better left unexplained. I thought a lot about why I was getting so many dreams on railways, but had no answers... still finding a satisfactory answer.

Cartoons and animated movies

As a small kid, I still remember myself getting excited while watching action cartoons like Power Zone in Cartoon Network or Fox Kids on star plus (spiderman, robocop). Events were predictable and end was known, still it used to be fun watching spiderman or batman coming to the rescue of innocent ones and stopping the bad guys. I agree that story and therefore events of each episode were different, but the basic idea remains the same, "good guy(s)(known) fighting the bad guys(changing sometimes but still known) and protecting the innocent(known or unknown, doesn't matter, unless a close one of the good guy(s)!)". I also watched "Looney Toons", "Popeye Show", "Dexter's Laboratory", "Powerpuff girls". Though some of them were mostly predictable, some of them couldn't be (like "Dexter's Laboratory"). While some cartoons like "Spiderman" or "Aladdin" or say, "DragonballZ"(some of my batchmates watch it!) haven't lost their charisma and appeal, cartoons like "He-man"(personally I found it boring after watching it after 8 years!) lose their appeal, simply because of being too predictable and sometimes stupid.
Comparing those times with today, I still love watching cartoons! Recently, in 4th semester, I watched a few episodes of Spiderman which was aired on cartoon network. I have also been watching some cartoon movies like "Lion King"(my first cartoon movie, as far as I remember), "Little Mermaid", "The incredibles", "Sinbad", "the road to El Dorado", "Aladdin" and many more. The fact is that I can still watch the above mentioned movies again! The best part is that the makers of such movies have been very creative in giving their characters good dialogues, interesting events and of course good animation. My latest favourite animated cartoon movie is "TMNT". I have always been a fan of turtles and that will always make me like this cartoon and this idea very much.
It might be that since I am still 18 years old, I am still liking cartoons, but the fact is that, anybody can watch cartoons. Personally what I feel is that cartoons and animated movies are like any other movie or show on T.V.! The things that eventually matter are the story, events, dialogues, and the extent to which the thing you watch interests you. Moreover, the animation due to gradual improvements have become more realistic. Besides, the best part in cartoons is that, anything is possible in them! :-)