RIFLE RANGE BOY

Queen of Dreams Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (2004) For centuries people have always associated dreams with our connection to the alternative realm. The unknown space that is beyond human comprehension that is said to be the link between our world and the inexorable dimension of divinity. For aeons, people have been under the impression that Gods speak to their subjects through this mode which they perceive as His way of communication. They were hellbent on to believing this that one almost severed his son's head and the other went on a world-saving venture impending doomsday by building an ark to converse all animals on Earth, much to the amusement of his neighbours and friends. People like Freud, putting God out of the equation, went on to suggest that these nocturnal visualisations were mere expressions of the mind which were suppressed, repressed or forgotten of the Conscious. It could also be therapeutic if one could critically analyse the cry of the hidden mind. ...

When I grow up, I want to be rich; I want to have boobies (oops, groupies), so the song goes. We all have our dreams so as not to repeat the mistakes that our forefathers. We want to undo all the mistakes, to grasp lost opportunities or that that never came their way. We follow the rules, the do's and don'ts paved by our elders. We try to uphold ancient value systems hoping for the blessings from Nature or Divine Being or whoever who is or isn't there. We play hard, we work hard but bearing in mind that the Middle Path is always the best. We do a reality check. The last time we scrutinised, we were doing a-okay. The future could not be looking any better. We were proud of ourselves. The future looked so bright that we may have to wear shades. Then wham! The dark shadow of the past plagues come haunting. The very genetically predetermined ailments that were tried to be kept at bay came a-knocking. The sensible life that was led is no guarantee for the rogue DNA to...