Lesson 1: The Dream

Part: A


He leaned over somebody’s shoulder to have a better look at “Mandap”. It was a Hindu marriage. Lots of flowers arranged in a square manner. As if they are supposed to decorate a virtual cube. Some yellow, some orange and some white flowers. He had never seen a real one except some in movies.

Inside the cube he saw a couple. He could not believe the scene.The bridegroom just looked like him. The so called cold chill ran over his spinal cord. He asked the name of the bride to one of the guests. They said her name is Gracy John. He asked them about what is she doing. They said she is working with some private banking firm.
That was too much for his senses. He tried to get up. It was around 7 am as usual. He felt the familiar magnetic attraction between the steel cot and the shirtless body. But it was weaker than the aroma from his roommate’s hot coffee cup. In no time he had a sip from it. His brain became active and things started working inside it once again.The word ‘wife’ itself was so weird and strange.

He never thought of someone in the place of wife. He felt like laughing on that idea. For him falling in love is the greatest blunder that anyone can do without doubt. As time pass by he developed some sort of hatred towards couples under those trees and boys on terrace with their mobile phones plugged in to ear.He hated it in such a level that, he never bothered about their existence in the world.

If you hate someone or something just ignore it. That is the best insult. But none of the above means that he never looked at girls. He had his own calculations, observations and result sets for each and every girl whose image happened to fall on his retina. His approach to them was more of a scientist. He listened to the stories of friends about how they met, spoke, fell, felt and made it with their girlfriends. He listened to them with a curious face and a sympathetic heart.

He considered himself as a connoisseur [Google says: A person with expert knowledge in the fine arts, A person of informed and discriminating taste] of beauty. He tried to find it in everywhere and everything. It may be a pen, an insect, a voice, a leaf, a shadow, a worm, drop of water or a piece of stone on the road. And as you can guess, beautiful girls decorated top slot in his -“Must need closer look” –list.

For such a guy like him, it was a grave like shame to talk about what happened to him last night. He took his Dream Notebook [the one in which he scribble about all the dreams in a - case by case basis- mostly everyday]. After making a note about the dream under the heading of date, he decided to reveal the news to his roommates. “I just attended my marriage. I met her on the Mandap”. And he explained all what happened.

Logical queries started flowing.
They: How did she look?He : No idea, can’t remember, might be covered with flowers.
They: You are Christian, she is Christian .Then how come the marriage In a Mandap?He : I don’t know!

It was his second year of engineering degree course. Gracy John. Her name bounced vigorously within his skull. He started with the list of all the girl creatures from his pre-nursery days. He could not find a face represented with that name. Primary school? High school? +2 ? college?No luck, there were none. The fast rewind of his first 20 years of life indeed polished some of dusty roads which led to his early school days.


Part: B

It happened when Little John was in third standard. She was a reputed figure in the class because she was a teacher’s kid. Her mom was teaching in some higher class. Her name meant “smiling face” in Hindi. In effect it sounds more like a common Muslim name. She had long curly hair divided in to two- spread over her shoulders, which gave her an instant Jesus Christ look.

It was a lunch interval. Boys and girls were playing together. A game which needed two groups: one group of boys and another one of girls. Both sides should sing something alternatively with some folk dance like steps.
At the end of it this girl tied a knot on him as per the rules since he was the winner.
- On his neck, with a jute string.
- Everybody laughed, he stood still there confused.
- Bell rang, the classes resumed as usual.
That was a start.
As they often say “The world was never same again” for him.

While he was in 4th class she came again to disturb him. This time her name stood for some mathematical term in Sanskrit. She had long curly hair but divided in to many which gave her an instant Lord Krishna look. Her brother was a local singer. Her father was a respected head master of nearby high school. It was a Wednesday in school assembly when he saw her with the new look; with a boy’s cut. The short hair style erased the very basic visible difference between them. Hence he decided that she is no longer a girl.
That was a shock.

While he was in 5th class, she came again to disturb him. This time somebody said her name to him. After all he never believed in any sort of personal acquaintance with any of the girls. Her name stood for a classical music instrument in Tamil. She was the star of school. She topped in all sort of classical dance competitions. Her dance step on top of a brass plate inspired him to break one plate at home. And another one big connection between the two was that her brother was his brother’s friend. One day he got a chance to visit her house. His brother emotionally blackmailed with her name and Little John was forced to accompany him.
When he met her there, he saw the inevitable. She was in Bermuda shorts. That was the first time he saw a Bermuda. It was brown colored with many pockets long up to the knees. Longer than what he had at back home. More colorful, and thicker. This deleted the very visible difference between them. He had to decide that, she is no longer a girl.

Little John decided to stop his experiments with girls right there in order to concentrate energy on more worthy causes. Little had been said about Little John so far. He deserves a better introduction.

On a fine evening the Almighty sent him to earth. When the sun went to the other side of earth, he had his first glimpse of this dark world.
He was a prophet.
The voice of voiceless,
The face of faceless,
The flesh of fleshless,
The soul of soulless.
And yea, he was the sound of silence too.
There were many stars on the sky, not just one to proclaim his arrival.
It was three nurses on the floor who visited him first.
Everybody thought he is a kid.
The truth was he was kid. A kid who is not supposed to grow up.
And yea, his mother was Mary and his father was Joseph.

After initial hiccups, elders were called up to stamp a name on his forehead. They zeroed in “Little John” as a short term name and “John” as a long term name. Everyone called him Little John.
His mother liked music very much. She had a great respect for all who could sing because that was something in which she failed even after many attempts. When she was expecting her child, she took a decision. She was determined make him someone who can sing - even though not exactly a musician. Everyday she played her favorite cassettes for a fixed time. She believed that this will make the expected kid musically inclined. She was almost correct in that.