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Political dreams

By Nickunj Malik - Jun 29,2016 - Last updated at Jun 29,2016

Last week, along with everybody else, I suffered from an overdose of British politics via the international news channels. As the entire world reeled under the potential impact of the Brexit vote in England, I began to experience terrible nightmares. Politicians of every shape and form started to torment me and there was no way I could escape from their clutches. 

I resigned myself to the images of Angela Merkel, David Cameron, Francois Hollande, Boris Johnson and their ilk, every time I closed my eyes. For an apolitical person like me, it was excruciatingly painful. The entire process, that is. 

So, I was pleasantly surprised when my thoughts switched continents, and suddenly, Michelle Obama appeared in my dream last night. I know Mrs Obama is just the spouse of POTUS (President Of The United States) and is only living in the White House for a few more months, till the new residents are sworn in, but I must tell you that I was very happy to have her visit me. The event was a book release, and I could see the first lady of America very clearly at the gathering. She gave a scintillating talk and then presented the audience with her latest book called “American Grown: The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America”.

Now, although the actual book was published in 2012, it took four years to reach a sleeping person’s dream, in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. In the real world it might seem like a long time, but in the esoteric world of dreams, it was quite a fast journey. Mrs Obama had lots of help writing her book. In addition to Lyric Winik, a Washington writer, there were also White House staff-members connected to the garden and kitchen and those who had stories to tell about the gardens they had started in their cities and towns. There was a section on the importance of physical activity, including a photograph showing Mrs Obama doing her record 142 hula-hoop revolutions on the South Lawn, too. 

Divided into four sections (one for each season) it included snaps of vegetables, as well as easy recipes and blended the first lady’s personal gardening experiences. She even wrote about the time in her life when she had “no idea that tomatoes didn’t come in green plastic trays, covered by cellophane, and that they could be any colour other than pale red”.

I must emphasise that I saw all this very vividly in my dream but here is the bizarre part. When I went up to buy her book, and as she was going to autograph it in her neat handwriting, I asked her if she had read my book. Just like that! Even before I could prevent myself, the question, sort of, popped out of my mouth. Michelle Obama stopped what she was doing and turned towards one of her aides, who whispered something in her ear. And then, in a gesture, which was very reminiscent of what all the politicians had been doing on television these days, she changed her negative headshake to a positive, affirmative one. 

“You mean, she meant it?” our daughter sounded astonished on the phone. 

“Sort of,” I answered. 

“And then?” she asked. 

“I don’t know,” I confided. 

“Mom!” she exclaimed impatiently. 

“It is difficult to say,” I pacified. 

“Please try to recall,” she pleaded. 

“I know what happened,” I said. 

“Yes?” she prompted. 

 

“I woke up,” I laughed. 

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