Spiritual gifts-What would you call it?
>> Friday, July 23, 2010
As I mentioned a few days back, I don’t believe in miracles. The incident of my school get-to-gather was an eye opening one. I did try to find reasonable explanation to that extraordinary coincidence but could not find any. Another incident, more recent, compelled me to accept that there is something beyond explanation. I am still a rational, still don’t believe in miracles, so I need some explanation to this incident in particular, scientific or otherwise.
When I was a school boy I had a classmate named Anil (I had many friends with same identical names) who was also my neighbor, staying in the adjacent building. We were in class three perhaps, hardly seven or eight years old. One morning, I heard that Anil and family had left the city for ever. Anil’s sudden departure took me and other common friends by surprise. Later of course, I learnt that their leaving the city was in offing for some time but Anil and his siblings were not told till the last moment because of certain implications. Anyway, that was not the age when one could develop matured and lasting friendship, so we were surprised and shocked, but not sorry. That was the age when friends come and go and one tends to forget as children do. I too forgot about Anil in a week’s time and as we were not that close, never thought of him again even in passing. There after when the time came, I too bid farewell to Calcutta for good.
Very recently, for no reason at all, I saw Anil in my dreams . I am a firm believer in that saying ‘after lunch rest a while, after dinner walk a mile’. Though I religiously follow the first half, I ignore the second half by choice. But to come to the point, I saw Anil in my dream, and me waving him goodbye as he and his family members were getting into a taxi. I saw us as children as we were. (I am sixty plus now.) Upon waking up, I was surprised by the dream and for awhile wondered where Anil would be and promptly forgot about him and the dream. Dreams, strange as they may be, come and go.
The very next morning, my nephew called me from Ahmedabad, really excited. After preliminary pleasantries, he told me, there was news for me. He asked me to guess. When I asked what it was, my nephew told me that he had met my childhood friend Anil just the previous day and that Anil was settled in Ahmedabad for quite a few years. He was running a retail spectacle shop there.
I was surprised but still not shocked. I told my nephew about my dream of Anil just the previous day after five decades and wasn’t it strange. It wasn’t as if we were fast friends and I missed him. Nothing of the kind. Amazed, my nephew casually asked me what time did I dream about my friend. I told him that it was in the noon after lunch, so it must be around between 2 and 2.30 pm for I take my lunch at 1.45 approx. And now comes the shocker. For awhile there was complete silence on the other end. When he finally spoke, my nephew’s voice was grave. He told me that that was the precise time he was at Anil’s shop talking about me. He said 1.30 to 2.30 was lunch time in his office. During lunch he went to get his specs repaired in the same locality. While his specs were being repaired, he got talking to the owner. During conversation, the owner, Anil told him that way back in his childhood, he had a friend of a similar surname and his name was Chitto. Further conversation about the area in Calcutta, school, father’s name etc. proved I was that friend. That was the exact and precise time I dreamt about him the previous day and that too after fifty years. My nephew told me that they immediately called me but no body picked up the phone. True, because immediately after my siesta I went to a nearby Mall and was in there for at least an hour. My wife was in Calcutta and children were in office. I don’t own a mobile.
Strange things happen. But how strange? I have myself seen many strange, extraordinary and even weird things in my sixty five years of life. But this was unsettling.
What would you call it? Any suggestions?
When I was a school boy I had a classmate named Anil (I had many friends with same identical names) who was also my neighbor, staying in the adjacent building. We were in class three perhaps, hardly seven or eight years old. One morning, I heard that Anil and family had left the city for ever. Anil’s sudden departure took me and other common friends by surprise. Later of course, I learnt that their leaving the city was in offing for some time but Anil and his siblings were not told till the last moment because of certain implications. Anyway, that was not the age when one could develop matured and lasting friendship, so we were surprised and shocked, but not sorry. That was the age when friends come and go and one tends to forget as children do. I too forgot about Anil in a week’s time and as we were not that close, never thought of him again even in passing. There after when the time came, I too bid farewell to Calcutta for good.
Very recently, for no reason at all, I saw Anil in my dreams . I am a firm believer in that saying ‘after lunch rest a while, after dinner walk a mile’. Though I religiously follow the first half, I ignore the second half by choice. But to come to the point, I saw Anil in my dream, and me waving him goodbye as he and his family members were getting into a taxi. I saw us as children as we were. (I am sixty plus now.) Upon waking up, I was surprised by the dream and for awhile wondered where Anil would be and promptly forgot about him and the dream. Dreams, strange as they may be, come and go.
The very next morning, my nephew called me from Ahmedabad, really excited. After preliminary pleasantries, he told me, there was news for me. He asked me to guess. When I asked what it was, my nephew told me that he had met my childhood friend Anil just the previous day and that Anil was settled in Ahmedabad for quite a few years. He was running a retail spectacle shop there.
I was surprised but still not shocked. I told my nephew about my dream of Anil just the previous day after five decades and wasn’t it strange. It wasn’t as if we were fast friends and I missed him. Nothing of the kind. Amazed, my nephew casually asked me what time did I dream about my friend. I told him that it was in the noon after lunch, so it must be around between 2 and 2.30 pm for I take my lunch at 1.45 approx. And now comes the shocker. For awhile there was complete silence on the other end. When he finally spoke, my nephew’s voice was grave. He told me that that was the precise time he was at Anil’s shop talking about me. He said 1.30 to 2.30 was lunch time in his office. During lunch he went to get his specs repaired in the same locality. While his specs were being repaired, he got talking to the owner. During conversation, the owner, Anil told him that way back in his childhood, he had a friend of a similar surname and his name was Chitto. Further conversation about the area in Calcutta, school, father’s name etc. proved I was that friend. That was the exact and precise time I dreamt about him the previous day and that too after fifty years. My nephew told me that they immediately called me but no body picked up the phone. True, because immediately after my siesta I went to a nearby Mall and was in there for at least an hour. My wife was in Calcutta and children were in office. I don’t own a mobile.
Strange things happen. But how strange? I have myself seen many strange, extraordinary and even weird things in my sixty five years of life. But this was unsettling.
What would you call it? Any suggestions?
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