Someone sent me a message in response to a social media post that I made saying “ you will become a book someday “. I had immediately started dreaming of such a wonderful life. How nice it would be to be a book. To become a book. In a way it is similar to what I do now. I repeat what is already proven, written, found, told, tested, done and said. Well, most of the time. This most of the time when I follow what is already given in literature is when I am at work. We practice something called “evidence based “ dentistry and that’s what I teach too. However just like my written work I cannot repeat anything in the same format in vocal format too. I do repeat definitions, findings and formulae however the order of repetition or the patterns vary. This is based on the listeners whom I have at that particular moment. The same topic or the same demonstration that I do varies when I tell it even to two consecutive batches of students.
The rest of the time when I do not repeat anything of the above is when I am creating something. Be it a painting, potting a new plant, cleaning my fish tank, applying my makeup or even posting something on a social media platform. So are you. Every time we make a stroke with a coloured brush we create something new on the canvas. Except when you are trying to replicate a masterpiece of course. Every time we pot a plant its never been the same ever. Have you ever wondered how each plant is the same yet different every day? Its as the same plant that gave life to it through an air layering yet completely different. Every time we clean the fish tank we change the positions of the gravel or the accessories inside don’t we? I do. Likewise everyday its the same products to apply makeup but a different combination. Every post that you make on Facebook or Instagram is entirely different from the previous one. Unless you are sharing your previous post or someone else’s previous post which makes it a copy. So if you wore a shirt today with a different pair of pants and shoes than you did the last time, voila! you have created yourself a new outfit.
When you do the same with larger things in life, like selecting your educational opportunities, your work or your life partner you have similarly two ways of doing that. Either follow someone else’s example to select something entirely new and become the first. There are a lot of firsts but when you think of it even if your identical twin and you selected the same subject to study and started working at the same place in the same positions everything you do is something new. Something that you create. Something that hasn’t been done already, even by yourself yesterday.
If I became a book, my life would become magical or muddled. If I were chosen to be one among those in a world class library, and if I were really sought after I could live like a dream. Everyday people might start pre booking me. Come stand in lines to get ahold of me. Read me. Remember me. Repeat me. Replace me with a copy of me. That would be a dream come true. I could meet so many people. Every time I am read by someone the same story would come to life in a different format. Someone’s understanding of a carrot or picturization of a night will always be different. I shall always have a variety of scenarios. Never be bored. If I were a mathematics textbook however my choices might be limited. But for me there are always children who are bad at math. I could chuckle and cry while the reader tries to understand the problems I pose through the pages. If I were to become a property of a book lover I shall live like a king. I will be cherished, loved, protected, preserved and respected. If I were to be the one gifted to someone who doesn’t read at all or who doesn’t like my subject however I’m not going to live my best life until the bearer chooses to find me someone to gift to or to sell to. If I were a rarity even if I end up in an old book shop I shall hope of finding a better home. If I were to reach the hands of an illiterate or who simply doesn’t read, I shall most likely be torn into pieces to be wound around a hot flaming corn with chilli powder and lime to die by suffocation and internal injury. On the surface level, this looks promising, the options that are available for a book if one doesn’t think too much about being run through the hot printer being closely shut and bound, transported and made to stand on stands always with a made up smile like a star hotel receptionist and getting dusty and forgotten . One can always dream.
I sail with you on the ocean of my dreams
to a far away distant place of great beauty and tranquility.
where suffering and pain do not exist,
where we give praises for our joy and happiness,
where our love inter-wines with Love for all things. - Rumi.
One can however not dream as much as when one is in love when one isn’t. That is to an extent foul play because when one is in love, one is day dreaming too and that gives an exponential edge when calculating the amount of dreams that are being created. Under normal circumstances if we take the dreams that are seen in our sleep they are indeed a welcome addition to our everyday life. When you are not someone who creates much enjoy the dreamland which your subconscious mind creates for you by sailing through the new landscapes and characters and entities that you feel, see and interact with. Have fun while it lasts. Its like watching a free multi dimensional movie and getting to act in it isn’t it? Leaving those few instances where the same dream or people are repeated you get to see quite a number of visuals in your lifetime. In order to dream, one should sleep.
Sleep is a very important function of the human body. Sleep helps the brain flush out toxins accumulated through the day enhancing the functioning capacity of it. A baby’s sleep is necessary to aid in brain development, enhance its learning ability, memory, growth, emotions, language development, attention and impulse management. Babies sleep a lot because they are developing and growing quickly. Newborns sleep for almost 3-4 hours during the day.
Once the child enters school sleeping reaches the bottom of the list of priorities. With growing curricular and extra curricular activities each year by the time the child finishes schooling it has leant to survive on 4 hours sleep every night on an average. Sleeping during day time becomes a thing of the past by the time the child goes to college. If the college workload is not large enough to accommodate there are parties and friends to fill those nights. Somehow sleep takes a backseat in adult life. 7 hours of sleep is absolutely necessary to maintain your beauty so don’t miss on that and catch up with that every night.
I sure do not understand however the people who sleep at work. Sure you need to rest, sleep and dream. Dreams make you more hopeful about your future. But those are different dreams. And you can’t actually see the other kind of dreams when you have a short nap. So why sleep in your workplace? It’s unprofessional, looks ridiculous and unfair to the employer. I get to see a lot of people sleeping in the hospital, if that is my patient the night before the surgery is right after the surgery I shall be happy. If that is anyone else during his duty hours its not something that I can digest. Of course you spend most of your time there but if you are in need of rest you could very well take a day off and rest rather than doing it in your workplace directly working hours. It not only makes the place look unprofessional it also steals any productivity that is left inside you. One of my seniors at work advised me that there is nothing worth reading in books and I must sleep like her during the afternoons rather than reading something like I usually do. When I didn’t follow the advice she started bellowing at me afterwards. We didn’t talk much after that except to talk about work. Lucky me, these kind of people are just my colleagues and I could leave them at work. I do understand some working class people sleeping at work. They work hard and their body tires a lot and they need to rest and rejuvenate to function properly. It is however not the case when you are an intellectual. My grandparents were 80 odd years old and I have never seen then sleeping during the day except when they had just been out of surgery and in recovery. They always had a book at hand or a paper and pen and were either reading or writing during their day and night times when they were not interacting with us or were doing some chores. Imagine having always been handed with a book or a newspaper when I was at home in the mornings. As shocking as this new culture of being around people who sleep regularly at work during day time I am yet to understand how one expects another to sleep alongside at their work desk.
One can always dream, but not by sleeping on his desk at work.If you’re to become a sought after rare original edition book, dream of becoming it and work for it at the cost of your sleep, at least the ones during daytime . May be one day your dreams shall come true.You might even get a fore-edge painting and stand out.🧞♂️
- Dr Thenaruvi Marimuthu ✨
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