The Dream Factory

Continuing the Little girl series...


The Dream Factory

One day she got lost. She was on her way back from the forest, where she had spent time sulking. Her brother had teased her mercilessly and laughed at her when she cried. The forest always calmed her down and she sat there for hours together.

She was hopping around, looking at trees and flowers. So deep was she in thought, that she hadn’t realized where she was going. This happened to her often enough, but she never learnt! This time, she was really lost and all alone.

“Lets see where this path goes”, she thought, when she saw a silvery road. The minute she put a foot on it, she knew there was something different. The trees looked purple and the sky was yellow! There were pink birds flying. Behind a blue cloud was a green sun, with black eyes and even a nose! She was amazed and giggled at the sun and it winked back at her! “Its weird, but I feel”, she thought “that I’ve been here before”.

           
She walked on the silvery road and reached a big house with a small door. She opened it and stepped inside, to see the most amazing sight! Lots of little people, with pointed hats and even more pointed noses, seemed to be busy at work. They were all singing a song and working to the rhythm. They were working at a big white machine which let out orange smoke!! She walked around in a daze and bumped into one little person’s long pointed nose! “Hey, look where you are going, you almost broke my nose”, he said.

           
The little girl was scared and big tears welled up in her big eyes. The little person felt sorry that he had screamed at her and asked her in a gentle voice, “Who are you, my child, and what are you doing here?” The little girl was sobbing quietly and he spoke again, “ Don’t cry, dear girl, tell me your name”. By then, however, more pointed noses with little people attached to them, gathered around her. Their noses got tangled with each other and they poked each other! She laughed at this, the little girl, and wiped her tears and told them her name. No one heard her though, in all the confusion, so we still don’t know!

          
One little person with a big pointed hat and the biggest pointed nose came to her with a lollypop and she took it gladly and looked at him and said, “why do you have such a big nose?”. He smiled gently and said, “Because I am the chief dream maker”.

“What is that?”, she asked.

“Well. Where do you think you are, my child? This is the Dream Factory!”

The little girl looked confused. The little person, with the biggest nose, smiled at her and told her to come along. “I will show you around”, he said and took her hand in his.

            
“People have a lot of wishes”, he said “They want different things. Some people want money, lots of it, and some want big houses. Some people just desire good food and some only think of clothes! I know a girl who only wishes for shoes! We smell their desires (“oh! That’s what the big noses are for!” exclaimed the little girl)”, said the chief, nodding his head, “and we make dreams for them. So that, at least in their sleep, they might have what they want. They wake up with good thoughts and live another day in hope”

           

“Why would anyone want those things? After all they are just things!” wondered the girl aloud.

“Not everyone is like you, dear girl, not everyone wants only a colorful world”

The girl was amazed the chief knew, and was embarrassed. “Don’t be shy, my child, I smelt your wish myself. When you had passed by one day, on your way to the forest. I created your dream myself. Its was new and wonderful. But, don’t think others’ dreams are bad. Dreams are never good or bad. They are just dreams.”

The little girl nodded wisely and then exclaimed, “Oh, that’s why I thought I knew that road! I had dreamt of it!!” All the little people laughed with her and showed her the dreams they made. She had a mischievous thought then.

“Can you tell me what my brother wishes for?”

“No, dear girl, because his wishes are his own. You would be pleasantly surprised if you knew, but I can’t tell you. I can, however, tell you what his dream will be tonight!!”

The girl was ecstatic then she saw her brother’s dream. She smiled at it (No, we cant tell you what it was!!). She hopped and skipped all the way home, for they showed her the way back.

The brother came running to her and asked her where she had been. She smiled at him and kept quiet. He started teasing her then again, hoping to make her mad at him! But nothing bothered her anymore! When they were going to bed, her brother was still teasing her and she told him she knew what he dreamt of, she knew everything! She told him what he would dream of that night and went to sleep, smiling. When she woke up the next morning, she saw her brother sitting on his bed, looking utterly confused! She laughed at him and ran away before he could ask anything!!

My Mum's recipe- for life..and also Pudina Biriyani!!

“Mummyyyyy, tell me how to make biriyani please. You know the recipe?”

“Of course! First you take 60 bucks from your pocket money, then start your bike, go to Cooks, pay up and you shall have your biriyani!!” (Cooks is a small restaurant in Bhubaneswar, and if you are the owner, please pay or at least thank me for this free publicity).

That’s my mum for you. Her philosophy in life was simple- Why bother?! She used the theory of comparative advantage very well. They can make it better than us, why should we take the pains!

Don’t get me wrong, she was a fantastic cook. She always made awesome stuff. You couldn’t disagree with that. She made sure we all agreed, in her “subtle” ways. First she would put the dish on the table saying, “I’ve made fantastic alu gobi today”. And then she would ask us, “Isnt it good?”!!!

Her interest in the culinary art increased considerably over the years. She made killer “podopitha”, amazing alu chops and awesome chutneys. But her speciality has to be the Pudina Biriyani. She had mastered the recipe which is more a pulao then a biriyani. (I don’t know what the difference is, I just wanted to sound intelligent. You could ask my friend, the weekend epicurean, but I doubt even she would know!) Every time anyone came home, she made the pudina biriyani. I suggested once that we ask the guests what they would like to have. She was scandalized and said what if they ask for something complicated which we won’t know how to make! But the truth is, the biriyani came out perfect every single time and we all loved it.

I made the mistake of asking her for the recipe. Now, if you had the privilege of knowing her, you would understand that she did not believe in giving out exact measurements. So the recipe that follows shall be vague and you shall just have to adjust.

·    Grind together pudina (mint leaves), dhaniya (coriander leaves), onion, garlic and ginger. How much of each? “Haven’t you learnt yet to not ask?” my mother must be screaming from up above! I usually find pudina should be double the amount of dhaniya.

·    Put Dhaniya powder, jeera powder, red chilli powder haldi and salt in the paste. Mix chicken in it and cook it in the pressure cooker for one seeti (I am really bad at giving out recipes.. it’s genetic, what can I do?). Now if you are making a veg version, then don’t put the chicken. Okay, you knew that? How nice!!

·    Heat refined oil, in a thick bottomed vessel. Put curry leaves, dry red chillies and chopped onion and fry. Add washed and dried rice. Mum always used the regular rice since the aroma comes from pudina. Fry the rice for a while. Add the chicken mixture to this. And add water (twice the amount of rice). Cover and cook.

·    Once the water dries, take it off heat. Mum used to put the vessel on a heated pan, and let the rice get cooked in steam.

She usually made a raita with grated cucumber to have with the biriyani and the combination was awesome. I have tried this recipe and though it comes out nice, it never is like hers. Obviously, look at the way she gave me the recipe!

There are so many things I could tell you about her. The way she could endlessly watch planes taking off or landing, the way she tortured my friends, threatening them with the “ruk ruk ruk” dance or the fact that she always wanted to wear Margaret Thatcher type clothes! She was childlike, always smiling, never complaining. She was simple but really very special. I know this blog space wasn’t meant to have personal messages, but for mummy, I will make an exception.

There was a lot to learn from you mummy- your zeal for life, your ability to forgive and forget and smile at all times. I hope I have got at least a few of your good qualities. And if I ever, ever made you sad or upset, please do forgive me for it. I miss you....  I trust you still forget the punch lines of all your jokes...!

Row 14, Flight 6E 257

Flight 6E 257. From Bhubaneswar to Mumbai. Seat No. 14D, E and F. Three passengers. All three sad. All three cried, sniffed, slept and wrote in their diaries during the three hour long flight. D wrote down his expenses, F wrote some addresses and E, this blog post. 

D didn’t speak much. Sobbed quietly. Probably being a man, he couldn’t cry openly. His cabin baggage was a thin plastic bag, out of which he took out some fruit and ate during the break.  He kept looking ahead, towards the captain’s cabin, hoping, it seemed to urge the pilot to go faster. He was fidgety and restless. He slept when the food trolley came and pretended he didn’t hear  the air hostess when she called him. He looked left and right and slowly took out a pocket diary and pen. He wrote down his expenses date-wise. He wrote it down till the 2^nd decimal point. He added it up and did some thinking. Then he hung his head, cried some more, put his diary back and looked heaven wards in despair. We were 10 kms above sea level, the pilot informed us, so probably closer to God! He muttered something, put his seat back, and went to sleep. 

F was different. She was in bright clothes, and wore a lot of gold. She was on the phone whenever it was allowed. She spoke in Oriya, which most of us understood. She had to speak loudly, for the person at the other end couldn’t hear. She covered the mouthpiece with her hand, hoping it would muffle her voice. She didn’t realise, probably, that the chances of her meeting any of us again were really slim and that no one gave two hoots about her family problems. That’s what seems to be the issue.  When I had walked in, she was on the phone. She stopped when we took off and again spoke during the break. She cried when she wasn’t speaking on the phone, putting up a brave front. “Don’t worry, all will be okay, such things happen..I will come very soon again”. Hang up. Sniff sniff.  Call back again! I imagined old, ailing parents, a sister in a bad marriage, some relatives with monetary problems...but couldn’t decide what her problem was. She blew her nose, switched off her phone and went to sleep, looking worried still.

I took out my diary then and started writing. I had been faking sleep till then. Why had I been sobbing? Well, that’s a REALLY long story. A blog post wouldn’t do justice to it. It will probably be a book. A “Jhumpa Lahiri type deep book” as some might say!!

I looked around. The world seemed normal otherwise. People were eyeing the pretty air hostess. Wanting water, asking really dumb questions (“Emergency door has to be opened only during emergency no? “ I mean... really!!) Looked like it was only us passengers in 14 D, E and F who were worried and sad. Different people, different problems, all brought together by some divine intervention to row 14! (I am not counting A, B and C. They were foreigners and everyone knows foreigners don’t have any problems. What? They really don’t!) Wonder how we would deal with our lives and what would become of us once we landed. I wanted to hug them both, a group hug of row 14 (Indian nationals only) and tell them that things would be better and that they shouldn’t give up. But well, they were both snoring now (in rhythm, no less!!), so that couldn’t happen. Plus, it would be really weird for them. They didn’t know me. To them, I would always be the girl in 14 E, who came sat, sniffed, wiped her tears, pretended no one saw and then proceeded to eat a whole bar of chocolate!

Where ever you are, 14 D and F, have faith. Things will be better soon.