I travelled to Mumbai last night and instantly headed towards the Taj Mahal hotel. What grandeur. I recall seeing the structure on TV when Josh, an awesome Montreal-based Pakistani-Indian fusion band, came up with the video for their song, Mahi Ve. For some strange, odd reason, I decided it looked like a Belgian building. I had obviously seen the video in bits and pieces. Unfortunately, it took the massacre on November 26 for me to discover what it was and where it was. Quite naturally, on entering Mumbai then, I was, first and foremost, drawn towards it. There were so many locals sitting around the building, just watching it, as if in awe and in shock. I hesitated, went up to them, and introduced myself as a Pakistani, not knowing what to expect. To my pleasure, they smiled and offered to click me into a postcard for Mumbai. I then went inside the hotel, where I ran into four Indian movie stars on a single table: Salman Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Arjun Rampal. I had the necessary gadgets (digital camera and a volunteer photographer) to do the needful. My excitement knew no bounds. In another section of the hotel, I encountered whirling Turkish derveshis. Strange, I thought, but no complaints, for it was another lucky chance to snap away! More strange things followed. Outside a spacious room, people were switching off their mobile phones, lining up, observing pin drop silence, gradually walking into a room; a second door, leading them out. The preserved body of Mao Tse Tung lay inside. I recall casting a look at him and thinking to myself, I had visually embraced monumental history. Then, I woke up.
Dreams. What are they? I usually dream a strange cocktail of disconnected things, people and events. My sister too. She says she always walks into one house and out of another.
Signmund Freud's contribution to the area is perhaps the most significant. He introduced the world to psychoanalysis, focussing study on the subconscious human mind. His Interpretation of Dreams offers a method of free association to arrive at an interpretation of the symbolism of the images in our dreams: which wishes we want fulfilled and which inner conflicts we need resolved.
While I am obviously not urging my readers and fellow bloggers to interpret my dream for me, I think it'll be an interesting exercise if people could relate any incoherent narratives of their own. All the better if they've had any of their dreams successfully psychoanalysed the Freudian way.
Copyright (c) 2008 Saadia Malik
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