A Wish..!

I was standing near a tree with some of my friends from Masters. I don’t know what that place was. The weather was pleasant and I think we had gone there for a trip. Just then, Maddy came out of nowhere. On seeing him, I was ecstatic and yet speechless. I was consumed by an oxymoronic feeling of disbelief and satisfaction. He saw me, but first greeted one of my friends and then came towards me, a sly smile on his face. I struggled to speak. I could finally manage just a stutter, “I thought you were… “

He was quick to reply, as if he knew I was going to ask this. “Haan beta, did you even care to confirm where I was? I had gone for a trip. Nothing happened to me!”

I was filled with gratitude towards Almighty. I couldn’t have been happier. I hugged him. And I was relieved.

And then I woke up.

It’s strange that we sometimes don’t realise how badly we want something, until we see it in a dream. Stranger the fact, that these dreams come at a time when we least expect them to. Life, of late, seemed to be showing all of its colors at the same time –too much work and too many responsibilities, moments of joy and sadness, excitement and anxiety –all together! I was preoccupied with way too many things. I would have expected a dream to have come from such current affairs in my life. But the land of slumber has its own rules.

It has been 11 months, and I had thought that I have come to terms with the void Maddy left behind. But this dream told me otherwise. It made me long for that same feeling of relief I felt when I saw the dream. It told me how indispensable he is. I wish I could hug him again.