Dream Diary #3

I stop for a rum and chocolate cake somewhere in Jodhpur Park. I'm supposed to be meeting Piu because I'm leaving the next day. The Dripping play is going to be staged at Madhusudan Mancha in a couple of hours. I'm walking through Jodhpur Park, then I'm on a bus at Dhakuria and Kalua is telling me what everyone on the streets already knows - the zombies are coming for us. Bhaskar is not there but his voice projects through the bus, saying, "We have to run." Arijit misses the bus because he was rolling a joint and didn't see the bus. They ate him in front of our eyes. Kalua looks sad.

I suddenly remember that I left my bag and my cousin sister in the dressing room at the theatre. I get off the bus and run back. My shoes are slippery, but I can't take them off because there are dead leaves and dead limbs everywhere. I get lost almost immediately. Then I find my cousin, who is a child again. She makes a fuss, so I pick her up and run with her in my arms. She squeals in delight. Five minutes of running and she's adult again and fucking heavy. I put her down and pull her along by the hand. She is reluctant about running but caves when I tell her how important it is that I reach the theatre in time to perform.

Then she's gone, and the zombies are right behind us, running with geometrical precision up and down walls, climbing trees and eating crows. Now it's me, Trisha Barua and two elderly people who we have to keep slowing down for, but of course we can't leave them behind. Through a long tree-lined avenue we can see Somak, Soumashree and Kalpan, all dressed in bright purple, doing their scene. Our panic intensifies. Following is the conversation at this juncture.

Me - Fuuuuck.

Trisha B. - Run!

Me - Zombies! Sitting on a park bench, eating that dead person who looks like bald Thakurda!

Trisha B. - Oh the play's gonna be fucked.

Me - No, Dr.Lal will be praised by critics for staging it during and despite the zombie attack.

Trisha B. - (fearfully) - Oh we are dead.

Me - We could still make it.

Trisha B. - Sir will kill us, though.

Me - I wonder what scene they got to.

*Behind us, zombies jump on the elderly couple, tear their heads off and eat them*

Me - We should go around a different route, this one is filled with zombies.

Trisha B. - But Dr. Lal?

Me - I'd rather we were late than dead. (hehahah)

Trisha B. - But Dr. Lal.

Me - Ok, we'll run through the zombies. I hope the play is worth it.

*We run. I wake up shivering with terror. We arrived AFTER the interval, so the play was ruined.*