My Dream World

“I believe in everything until it's disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it's in your mind. Who's to say that dreams and nightmares aren't as real as the here and now?”

I woke up with a smile on my face today. I do not know why but I was feeling very happy. While sipping my morning coffee I started analyzing about mycontended state of mind. It is then that I realized that I had a really sweet dream about me and my old girlie group of friends where we were enjoying our stay in a luxurious five star property in Goa sans kids and husbands. It was so real that I was still able to feel the fun and joy and I felt completely relaxed as if I actually had that holiday.  Feeling of such bliss just by dreaming….wow!!!

I started contemplating. It was not the first time that I was feeling this. Every sweet dream makes me happy whereas nightmares always make me jump out of my bed to spend the remaining night watching TV. Then there are some dreams which are so irrelevant that I cannot categorize them at all and they leave me confused or laughing on the sheer absurdness.

I thought about doing a little research on this subject and I started with what are dreams and how we have them.

Types of Sleep:

As per scientists we have two types of sleep:

•  REM (Rapid eye movement) Sleep
•  NREM (Non Rapid eye movement) Sleep

While we sleep our body oscillates between REM and Non REM and REM is the stage where we explore the world of our dreams. NREM also has different stages starting from light sleep, then a stage where body prepares to enter deep sleep and very deep sleep.

As kids the amount of NREM is greater and it keeps on decreasing as we grow in age. If you have an infant or toddler in your home then you can easily notice REM sleep whilst they are sleeping.

A Sudden Fall:

I always wondered how I have a feeling of a sudden fall followed by a muscle contraction while sleeping. When I talked with a couple of my friends they agreed that the same occurs with them also. My curiosity ended when I read somewhere that this is normal during stage 1 of NREM (light sleep) and not only this, my falling syndrome has a fancy (read scientific) name as well “hypnic myoclonia”.

We Share a Dream:

The next thing I wanted to know was why there are certain types of dreams which keep on repeating in sleep.

Many times I get this dreadful dream that I have a college exam for which I have not prepared and sometimes am not even aware of the subjects and textbooks. Very often I dream about a broken tooth or missing footwear in middle of the dirtiest road.

I started jotting down the most common type of dreams which I have had. I also tried to find out possible causes for having such dreams and after searching various sources came up with the following.

1.       Exam Time - This type of dream generally depicts one in middle of an exam or test unprepared. Many people view their school or college even though its ages since they attended any.  I particularly have a very stressful feeling in such dreams as mostly I am unaware of this exam and have long forgotten all courses (I am aware in this dream that I was in college long ago). Analyst suggests that this could be the result of a deep anxiety of being unprepared for any task at office (mainly) or in any other aspect in life.

2.       Falling of a tooth – This is another category which keeps haunting me. Although not a typical nightmare but this one always leaves me agitated about the day I will start losing all my teeth (ya I know one day it is bound to happen but still ….). Naturally this category of dream has been associated with a person’s eagerness to look good and presentable at all the times.  We typically have this type of dream when we are very conscious of our appearance.

3.       Chasing – I know everyone have had this kind of dream at least once in their lifetime. I have had this many times in various variations. Many times I am trying to run away from some person, never seen who though. Sometimes I am trying to catch a train or trying to reach somewhere but somehow am unable to move my legs. Another variation of this is trying to call out for help but not able to find my voice. My analysis on various sites suggested that these are different categories (Getting chases, getting late or trying to catch a train and unable to move your limbs) but the crux of all seemed same. They suggest some problem in our life we are trying to run from but obviously cannot. This can also suggest a situation in your life where you feel helpless or out of control.

4.       Under dressed in public – Many times I end up with a dream where I have either lost or broken my shoe or sometimes even have forgotten to don them. Upon looking I found that there is a complete category for this kind of dreams where people see that they have turned up for an interview or an important meeting without a proper dress or shoes or maybe even naked sometimes. The meaning of this dream is that you are feeling exposed, awkward, or vulnerable, or you are afraid that you have revealed too much of yourself (such as a secret or a very personal feeling) in a real life situation.

5.       Getting Late – I know many of us have had this dream. This could be a result of a deep feeling of having missed an important occasion or opportunity in your life.

6.       Falling – Falling from height or drowning in water dreams indicate that we have a situation in life where we have given up all hope and are just waiting for things to take their own course of action.

7.       Death – Death dreams often leave me shattered especially when I see some near and dear one dying in my dreams. I tried to find out the cause behind such dreams as many a times this nightmare leaves me with a feeling that this might be sign that my loved one is in danger. Dream analyst suggests that you can see your or some loved one’s  illness or death if you (or they) are already ill or have recovered from a prolonged illness, whereas if you see some person of less significance die then it could mean that you do not want that person in your life.

8.       Sleep Paralysis – This has happened to me only twice in my lifetime till now. In this situation I was aware that I am awake and could see everything around me (although very hazy and dazy …lol) but was unable to move my body. This is a whole different category and I will elaborate it in my next blog on this topic. So, stay tuned for my next blog on SLEEP PARALYSIS.

Well these are just a few categories I was able to define as per my experience of the dream land. Of course there are many different dreams I could not categorize at all and experts suggests various other categories as well.

I read somewhere that keeping a dream general helps you find out the deeper meaning to your dreams and connect them with your real life situations. I will surely try this out and will share my experiences.

It would be fun if everyone in the circle can share there weirdest dreams and also there possible meaning to them. So let’s rock it friends…waiting for your dream world to unfold.

“People think dreams aren't real just because they aren't made of matter, of particles. Dreams are real. But they are made of viewpoints, of images, of memories and puns and lost hopes.”

A Weekend Trip to Neemrana

It was our first wedding anniversary and we had a weekend at our disposal. We wanted to spend this time between ourselves and not offering 3D (Drinks, Dance and Dinner) parties to relatives (like on our wedding).

I started looking for options for place around Delhi so that we do not have to spend the entire weekend driving to a faraway hill station. After exploring a lot of options, I finalized the heritage Neemrana Fort resort in Alwar.

Since we booked at last time so there were not many options left but we booked a double bed room known as GulabMahal (The pink Room). There are various categories of rooms available in Neemrana and you can get the list at the following link:

http://fort-palace.neemranahotels.com/rooms

On the day of our anniversary (Saturday) we started in the morning for our weekend stint. It took us nearly 3 hours to reach there because of the road condition and also because the road to Neemrana could be easily missed if you are too lost in that music in your car.The road to the fort is pretty steep and narrow; so you need to be very careful.

As I got out of our car the view was breathtaking. Neemrana is a beautifulllllll fort on a small hill, overlooking the valley (read jungle) and very well maintained. It was like being transformed to a different era of rajas and maharajas.

Our room was on level 3 in old wing and we followed a passage to a huge lobby with old wooden chairs, tables and swings to reach GULAB MAHAL. Everything was quaint and vintage, the bed, dressing table, small sofa and the cute little jharokha (small balcony) from our room.

After freshening up in state of the art bathroom we started our tour of the fort. It is a huge fort with narrow passages, hanging garden, many terraces and a bawari (small water body where queens used to swim). There are also modern facilities available in the fort like swimming pool, spa, games room etc.

All the rooms in Neemrana are quite secluded from one another and you will not get the feel of being in a populated resort. They give you the complete atmosphere of an old fort with no one in near sight which became a little spooky for me in the night. In fact at one point during our day tour we reached a garden which was very dense with various species of trees and plants and we could not see anyone around and the whole environment gave me goose bumps.

I think this whole environment is set on purpose to give people a real feel of olden times.

I am not sure about other rooms but our room did not have a TV but there was a common TV and games room. Then there are various activities like zipping (adventure activities), camel ride, tour in vintage car, step well trek and a very good spa.

Highlight of our stay was the evening high tea, which is served on a terrace overlooking the beautiful sun set (inclusive in your stay package) and is an amazing with various varieties of teas, cakes, cookies and Indian snacks like pakoras. It was a real therapeutic experience.

On most Saturdays they have cultural activities for the in house guests and we enjoyed our share of rajasthani dance and music. There was a very good setup on one of the varandas, with bar, snacks and multiple cultural kaleidoscope followed by a buffet dinner in the outdoors. The buffet dinner was a bit disappointing as it was not at all value for money. The charges were 2500 per person and choice was very limited with a poor taste.

We took another tour in night as the fort looked beautiful with all its lights, just like a birthday cake with millions of candles. Another annoying thing at night was the cats in the fort. They kept on howling whole night and added to my spooky feeling, although my husband found it quite amusing and funny. As per him it was their mating call.

Breakfast, which was included in our package, was a reasonably good spread and was again set out in one of the verandas but there was an indoor option too.  Since it was beginning of November we enjoyed ours outside while soaking up the sun.

All in all it was a very good trip and we enjoyed the beautiful fort. I would definitely want to go there again but would prefer a day trip this time.

The Day Trip

The day trip to Neemrana can be done by booking your tour in advance with a charge of 500 per person on weekdays (9:00 am to 3:00 pm) and 750 per person on weekends (12 noon- 3:00 pm).

In day tour people are allowed to visit only the public areas for two hours and other facilities like pool, spa and evening tea are not available, but you can have buffet lunch which is reasonably priced at 1100 (weekdays)/1200 (weekend) per person.

Neemrana is a beautiful heritage fort and I would suggest it as very good day trip or weekend trip option for people staying in Delhi NCR. The best time to visit would be from Oct to Feb as it could be quite hot in summers.

So enjoy the trip and do not forget to share your experiences… good and bad both.