Born Again

"Tania, child, open this door!" Her Dadi ji was knocking at the door.

She quickly got off her bed and while walking towards the door said. "Yes, Dadi ji, I am coming to open the door."

She opened the door for her Dadi ji. But her Dada ji was also there.

"Why were you screaming?"

"Was it due to a frightening dream?"

"You seem to have suffered a shock."

"What did you see, that scared you so much? You are still trembling."

"Won't you please come in so that I can tell you all about my dream. It has upset me. I do not wish to narrate it standing at the door."

Her grandparents were ushered into her room and asked to sit on the chairs placed near the study table.

"You seem to have suffered a shock, I will go downstairs and make you a cup of tea." her Dada ji responded with a look of deep concern on her face.

"No that will not be necessary. I keep an electric kettle, water in a bottle as well as sugar and milk powder in the cupboard below the T.V.," responded Tania.

"OK, then I will make a cup of tea for you here in the room. It will help you calm down." Saying this her Dadi ji went towards the cupboard below the T.V. and took out the electric kettle, filled it with water and plugged it into the electric socket.

"It is Ok Dadi ji, I can do it," Tania made a feebly protest.

"No! It is not OK, let us help you," was her Dada ji's reply.

Soon the cup of tea was ready and Tania held it between both her hands. The poor girl was still trembling.

Her Dada ji did not look too pleased. He was eyeing the electric kettle and wondering why he had not been served a cup of tea.

His wife seemed to read his thoughts and responded, "Did you think that I would make tea for you too? Just not possible. You need to wait till the morning."

"If you take tea now you will be rushing towards the washroom as tea irritate the bladder, but many teas even contain diuretic compounds that are likely to make you urinate more."

Tania found this very hilarious and started to laugh at the look of her grandfather's face. He looked like a naughty child who had been reprimanded.

"OK, the joke is over now. Let us listen to Tania's dream," he said to cover up his embarrassment.

Tania smiled, she had almost finished her cup of tea and was quite calm now. She was ready to recount her dream:-

"That girl, Sanya, came again in my dreams and took me through a lot of corridors of a fort."

" We were climbing and descending numerous stairways, went through a number of passageways. Ultimately we reached a door that was shut."

"She put a finger on her mouth to indicate that I should not say anything and gestured me to follow her into the room."

"We entered a huge room which was well decorated. There was a huge bed on one side with carvings and motifs."

" There were chairs with wood carvings and a carpet or rug on the floor. The rug seemed to be very expensive. There were huge windows too with long curtains."

"I noticed that there was someone on the bed. Sanya gestured to to me to come closer."

"I saw a frail man lying on the bed and next to the bed was a side table on which rested a huge crown studded with precious stones."

"The man seemed to be ill. He resemble someone but from the distance I could not figure out who he was."

" Heavy footsteps outside indicated someone was about to enter. So, we hid behind the long curtains and could peep into the room."

"Just then the door opened and in walked my uncle from that life."

"My uncle in the previous life was my her father's brother. In the present life he is her mother's brother."

"Uncle was wearing two pieces of cloth. One was a flowing cloth covering his legs and tied to the waist with a golden belt."

"The other cloth was hung over one shoulder and spread across the stomach and chest area and tucked into the belt. He was wearing a lot of jewelry and moved menacingly towards the bed."

"He was shouting in anger at the sick King who was lying down."

" He called the King an old fool and told him that he would die soon. After his death Uncle would ascend the throne and become king."

" He told the King that the ailment he had was the same that had killed his son and his wife. This ailment would kill him too."

"Uncle also said that no one would come to help the king as he had bought the loyalty of the guards."

"Now they were loyal to him and not to the king."

"He had planned everything and after the King died, there would be normal mourning period of 40 days. When the mourning period was over, he would hold a coronation ceremony in respect of the Sanya."

"Thereafter, he would marry her off to his friend who was the prince of the adjacent state then he would become King."

"After shouting all this at the king, he left abruptly banging the door behind him."

"I then went closer to the bed and was horrified by what I saw. The person lying there was my father of this life, your son of this life Dada ji !" said Tania with agitation. "My father of this life was the same as my father of that life."

"I was filled with terror as I could not differentiate that life from my present life. So, I screamed and screamed."

"Thereafter, the vision vanished, and the whorls of time passed over me and I came out of my dream into reality, into my familiar surroundings."

"Just then I heard you knocking at my door and came over to open the door."

"I was quite agitated but the tea has calmed me, thank you."

"Now what is the inference that you would draw from this dream?" Tania asked with raised eyebrows and looked towards her intelligent grandfather.

"Hmm! I feel that you are being warned of impending danger."

"I think he did not harm you in that life or maybe you managed to harm him."

"You need to get the whole story from Sanya."

"I think if we keep waiting for the information to come through dreams, it will take quite some time."

"We need to explore other avenues to get this information."

"I want to meet your psychologists."

"Now you sleep, your Dadi ji will stay with you so that you do not feel alone."

Saying this, her Dada ji told her Dada ji to sleep on the other side of the bed.

Bidding both good night, he left the room shutting the door behind him.