I have been a victim of many bizarre dreams. And this was just another one of them. Rather than taking it trivial, sometimes I sit and research the meaning of the dream. If you are somebody who interprets your dreams, or at least tries to, you will understand how crazier it gets. This one, however, is not a recent dream. It happened to me more than four months ago. But the reason why I still remember it vividly is because of the impact it had upon me.
On a pleasant sunny day, I was on a train with many strange faces. To be precise, on the roof of a moving train. I am not sure whether they chose to be on the top or otherwise. Neither do I know how I happened to be on the roof as well.
The people on board carried different emotions and different stories. Some were happy and chatty, some moody and quiet, and some faces were unreadable. I came in the third category.
I didn’t know where the train was heading. Neither I carried a ticket in my hand, nor I can remember the journey details now. As the journey began, we all figured out that it was challenging to travel on top of the train as it was very shaky and windy. We were having a hard time enduring ourselves to balance and not fall off the train.
When the train reached the next station, most of the crew on the top decided to leave the roof and get into the compartments. But we didn’t have much time to do that. Everybody was hasting to the nearest compartment coach of the train. By the time I got off the roof and started rushing to the nearest compartment door, the train had begun to move. My heart started pounding faster as I tried with all my ability to run and chase it. But all my efforts went in vain as the train gained more momentum in another second and faded away into the distance. I watched it with a perplexed face, stopped running and fell on my knees with a heavy heart. I was the only one left out at the station. The rest of the crew had already made it to one or other compartments safely.
I stood up bewildered and afraid, having no clue what to do next. I hurried to the nearby shopkeeper and explained my situation in a breath. He said, “If you take an autorickshaw to the next station, you might be able to catch the train. There is a shortcut through the gullies”.
I sprinted to the rikshawala and asked him to take me to the next station as quickly as possible. He took me through some haphazard and narrow roads to the next station. I was very disappointed and annoyed thinking about the consequences of the situation. Halfway through the adventurous ride, I realised the possibility of catching the train was waning every second, and the risk I was taking was not of any use. So I asked the rikshawala to stop the vehicle and drop me there. I got off the rickshaw and started dilly-dallying down the road feeling confused and unsure.
That is where the dream ended, and my thinking started. The remaining paragraph of the article sums up the conclusions I have reached interpreting the dream.
Some journeys are not ours to take. Some trains lead us to the wrong destinations that we don’t realise. That was not my train. I had a tough time accepting it. Most of us hold onto the past, not letting the train of our emotions and feelings go. We fail to realise that destinations are different for different people. I was so tough on myself for missing the train, not only in the dream but also in real life. But ultimately, all we need to learn is to let go. To accept change and move on. There will be an exciting new train waiting for us to another incredible destination. We should learn to shed the leaves of the past and prepare ourselves for a new journey.
Enjoy the ride.
Your journey never ends. Life has a way of changing things in incredible ways.
-Alexander Volkov
Echoes of My 👣 Footsteps 