High Flier

Occasionally I fly in a dream, all by myself, both the hands moving like wings. It pleases me to discover that although a human being, I can fly so easily. I take off from anywhere and then fly over the electric lines and trees with ease, gliding through air, over the meadows into wilderness, anywhere and everywhere, as if I am swimming in a big lake. But flying is lot more enjoyable than swimming because the body feels very light and a feeling of freedom sets in. There is another difference with swimming in that one can select the level at which to fly. You can go higher and higher just by maneuvering a little. It is so entertaining! But all the fun ceases as soon as the dream ends. I feel very bad then.

I have thought a great deal over the matter. Is the desire to fly embedded somewhere in the subconscious? Or is it a desire to be uncommon, which prompts such a rendezvous with the sky at large? When accosted with the question my friends have termed it as a figment of my imagination. I resigned to their opinion about me as nothing could be proved to the contrary till the other day. That is till I met the gentleman on a bench in the lake embankment. I shall come to that now.

The gentleman, whom I met the other day, was in the forest service. After retirement he came back home and was staying at his ancestral house near Vivekananda Park. He was highly mobile in his service life. His job warranted that. At the end of an action-packed career, he is now leading a peaceful life. I found him very happy, as if he was passing through his second childhood. On that day, early in the morning, I was relaxing on a bench when he came and sat next to me.

The lake area was stirring back to life with early birds indulging in their morning constitutional. The two islands of the lake were just in front of us. He was attentive to the greenery of the islands. Perhaps his days in the forests had imprinted indelible marks on his mind, which were undergoing a blissful rerun at such a congenial atmosphere. Tourist birds had taken shelter in the island because it was free from poachers. The birds had bleached the trees white with their corrosive droppings. His attention shifted from the greenery to the birds. Looking askance, he asked me.

"Were you not talking about flying in a dream the other day?"

"Yes, I did. I do dream so many dreams like that and forget most of them, but this one somehow stuck to my memory."

Pointing his finger to the migratory birds he said:

"These birds hail from far off northern latitudes in the winter in search of hospitable and cozy environment in the tropics. They undertake strenuous journeys across mountains and deserts braving inclement weather that come their way. Scientists have found a definite pattern in their behavior. They seem to be somewhat swollen compared to their counterparts here. Isn't it?"

"That seems true."

He continued:

"They live in rarefied atmosphere, hence their bodies become lighter to make it easier for them to keep afloat. The atmosphere here does provide them with not only warmth but greater buoyancy as well to make it easier for them to fly."

"But how is it related to my dream sir?" I could not help asking him.

"Your desire to fly is basically the desire to overcome obstacles. Human history is that of crossing the obstacles only. Flying signifies crossing all natural impediments. All animals possess a natural instinct in this regard."

"What about human beings?"

"The same. We are handicapped in our movements, as only the lower limbs have to bear our burden. This restricts our movements to land only. But the desire to fly or swim surfaces occasionally. Since all animals originated from the same seed, these urges are common to all the wanderers of land."

"Do you mean to say that birds, reptiles and other amphibians as well as inhabitants of water hail from the same source as humans?"

He did not answer my question but continued in an absent-minded manner.

" Whenever the mind is stirred for any reason, the sediments move up and down creating turbidity and many unknown phenomena come to light. You must have observed that you fly in dreams only when your mental condition is disturbed."

I never thought on these lines. I only felt great pleasure in flying. After flying for a while When I came back to the ground, peace of mind seemed to return. Towards the end of the flight the gravitational pull seemed to increase and brought me down. I wanted to know why?

" With calming down of the mind, is it that the sediments resettle in their respective places, and hence the deceleration?" I asked him.

The gentleman did not reply this time also. He went on elaborating his conception.

"My theory is not based on any scientific investigations though it is extrapolation of the theories established scientifically. The brain cells store enormous data within them. You can find its entire history imprinted on them in a yet unknown code. Once we learn the code, we can retrieve the corresponding page and learn back the art of reconverting ourselves to our earlier life forms in seconds."

Whatever he was saying was clearly beyond me. But there seemed to be some substance in it. The man deserved a patient hearing if not outright applause. I kept quiet and allowed him a brief rest. But he was very eager to divulge the truth that he discovered. He went on:

" Again, if you can read a page of your past history, probably you can change yourself to a dolphin, swim the seven seas and come back leaving the Atlantic. Who knows? You may meet your ancestors somewhere deep in the ocean, who can recognize you readily."

He laughed heartily at his own joke. This was the first time that I saw him laughing so openly. The interior of his mouth looked greenish. I could not help asking him one more thing.

"Is the future also written on those cells or whatever thing you mentioned, those are sleeping in the deep layers of our mind. If so, it must be some kind of a time machine, based on cells that are not perishable and retain workability across the enormous number of lives that we believe we pass through in course of our voyage through eternity?"

I could not help showing off a little.

His reply was more confusing now.

" Yes, it has the future also stored in it. Our life and death are like playing a prerecorded CD. Otherwise how could I tell you things, which you people, are still far away from discovering? Is the present day man aware of these?"

I was inattentive for a few seconds. His words were still ringing through my mind and raised so many questions that I wanted to ask him.

I realized suddenly that the person had disappeared.

A big frog whose exterior was entirely green jumped into the water of the lake in a few hops from below my bench. The next moment I found the frog floating in the water in front of me, the eyes bulging out and trying to say something very familiar.

(This has been published as one of the fifty stories in e-book "Tales for Ever", which may be downloaded from http://www.intuitionpress.com/Bookinfo.asp/id=48)