While I Was Sleeping........

Trisha came up with this story while indulging in her most favoured activity. Have I told you her favourite flicks include ...Sleeping Beauty, Sleepy Hollow, While You Were sleeping, Sleepless in Seattle, Sleeping with the Enemy.........

Image courtesy :clipartof.com

Napoleon, Marx, Shakespeare and the endless procession of eminent individuals that every student curses; as days turn into nights and the syllabus stretched into infinity. Red eyes ringed with dark circles, I got up. “I’m going for a walk.” My voice croaked from disuse. No, seriously, I’d reached the limit of my attention span (i.e 45 minutes) and the idea of a walk seemed pretty appealing. There’s a forest area surrounding my residential complex and the trees swayed invitingly. As I walked, the temperature began to dip. Suddenly tired, I sat down and leaned against a tree trunk. Light filtered in from the canopy above. It was so comfortable. My limbs loosened and my eyes closed...

I wake with a start. What’s this wet, white powdery stuff? I shake it out of my hair. I notice little chunks of it sliding down my arms. Can this be...snow? In Delhi, at this time of the year? I run towards my house, people are moving sluggishly through the snow. I run out onto a road. Strange cars whizz by. One car stops, a window is rolled down- “Hey, are you lost? Do you need a ride?” I shake my head and move on. I cross the road carelessly and a car screeches to a halt. “I’m so sorry! Are you okay? Be careful...” Now that’s weird- polite Delhi-ites? Am I dreaming? My clothes look outdated somehow. People throw curious looks in my direction, and then quickly turn away. I reach a towering building, I can’t see the top. People are moving in and out in a continuous stream. I go up to one of them and ask if I could use her mobile phone. “You mean my mini-comm right? Why do you need to use such archaic terms? Sure, darling.” Archaic?? I dial in my mum’s cell number. A metallic voice declares, “The number you have dialled does not exist”. “Excuse me,” I say, “is there a network problem or something?” She checks the number. “Munchkins, you’ve definitely dialled the wrong number. No phone number is less than 13 digits.” I forget to thank her as I flee. Crazy, I’m definitely going mad. Finally, a familiar sign! I go, grateful for a haven from the freezing cold, into a Barista. Warm coffee smells had never smelt so nice before. But I don’t spot any chairs or tables.  Err...am I supposed to have my coffee standing? The floor rumbles. Alarmed, I step neatly out of the way as what I thought was a floor design rises out of the floor to magically become...2 chairs and a table. A cute guy appears out of nowhere and pulls the chair out, holds it in place and says, “Please, let me.” Speechless, I sit down. “May I order something for you?” he asks. “Um, sure.” I have no cash, so I may as well accept. A cappuccino later, I ask the guy about the freak snow. He gives me a strange look. “It’s been snowing for 20 years, don’t you know? The big shots of various governments had to counter global warming, so they came up with this ‘ingenious’ plan to shoot a bunch of micro-reflectors into the atmosphere. They managed to mess it up, so we’ll be stuck with snowfall for a century.” Twenty years ago? “What year is it?” I ask. “A.D or P.A?” I don’t bother asking what P.A means, “A.D”. “Um, let’s see...my math is awful....it’ll be around 2060, I guess. Are you okay? You’ve gone all pale.” “Yes, absolutely. Thanks for the coffee, I’ll be off now.”

2060...2060??? What does THAT mean? I should be...66 years old in 2060. I’m still definitely 16. I check myself for wrinkles. Aging gracefully, I think. This is so not funny. I don’t know anything about what happened in these 50 lost years! I don’t know where my friends are, where my family is. The world changed around me, and time charged ahead without me. Please, God, let this be a dream! I’m drained and so tired. I need to sleep, just for a bit. I want to escape from this nightmare. My limbs loosen and my eyes close...