Wednesday, February 18, 2009

The stuff of dreams - Part II

In other news, I dreamt of Amitav Ghosh last night. Yes, THE Amitav Ghosh. In the dream, I’m in some Singapore-like country (and I know this because I have veg hakka noodles for lunch. Ha! How elementary is THAT, Watson) and we bump into each other and, get this, it turns out, he wants to revive our affair and I’m all, no no, I can’t do this, I’m married now! And then he gives me all these accusing-alternating-with-beseeching looks and while on the outside, I’m being all morally-high(ly?)-grounded, there is this one moment, one, when he takes my hand and holds it to his chest and people, I melt (this on the inside, of course).

(On an aside, I am now seeing him in this completely different light. Completely. Not that any actual seeing happens, since he’s Amitav Ghosh and half way across the world and I am, well, me. But you know what I mean)

And then the dream turned into one of those trippy meta dreams where you sort of know you’re dreaming and all I could think of was, thank god this dream-affair didn’t happen before I interviewed him because, well, we all know how composed I am when faced with people who’ve featured in my dreams.

So did I tell you about that interview? Because it was my first interview ever, I was determined to be all professional and non-fan-girly. I researched like crazy, did all my homework, stayed up late and finished the book and drew up a list of questions. The interview went off well-enough (except that I lapsed into ultra-sonic mode a couple of times. I do that when I’m nervous. Charming, I know). He was an absolute darling; all soft-spoken and sad-but-intelligent-sounding and then it came to an end and I wanted to get my book signed and then chaos (of a sort) happened. For some mysterious reason, in the moments leading up to the signing, I was thinking about that one Friends episode in which Monica gets to hang out with Hootie and the Blowfish and one of them signs her bra (no wait, that was the one in which one of the blowfish gave her a hickey. Which was the autographed-bra episode?). And then I started to worry about which bra I was wearing and whether or not it was even remotely autograph-worthy* and of course, I couldn’t remember, so I had the bright idea of somehow subtly trying to figure it out by feeling the straps through my shirt. Well, for those of who are trying this out right now, YOU CANNOT TELL FROM THE STRAPS. So then I figured, well he’s still looking for a pen so maybe I can sneak a quick peek down my shirt; it won’t take more than a second! So I did and when I looked up there was this worried look on his face. I don’t know if it was because he saw me looking inquisitively down my own shirt or because he still couldn’t find a pen.

His autograph says, ‘For CS, with my best wishes, Amitav Ghosh’. The ‘F’ in ‘for’ starts out a little wobbly but is fine by the time he reaches the ‘r’. I think I got away with it. Don’t you?

* Not that I *planned* to ask him to autograph it, but it would’ve been nice to know that I had the option.

10 comments:

Szerelem said...

Meh I have that dream every night - except its with Orhan Pamuk. I *know* we are meant to be, even if he is well, Orhan Pamuk, and I am well, me. STILL. It is written.

??! said...

Which was the autographed-bra episode?
The one with Joey's soap-star friends on the terrace of their building.

Szer:
Look, you're going to be in London. Get a ticket to hop across the pond, land up outside his office (you know where it is, don't you have some friend there?), and then tell him you've done all this because you loooowwwe him, and need him, and baby, together we can make Turkey whole again.

I'm sure he'll understand.

Chronicus Skepticus said...

Szerelem: Well, it was pretty much my first time*, so I'm just going to be a *little* disconcerted here.

You of course, can get on with making Turkey whole again. :D

*First time dreaming about world-famous-author-type person, of course.

??!: Aaah, yes! I've always wondered how they actually do it though. I mean, do you unbutton your shirt and partially flash them? Or do you take it off completely, get it signed and then put the shirt back on?

I am very mystified.

Szerelem said...

??!: I *actually* do know where his office if and I do have friends there. Hahahaha *evil stalker laugh*

Anonymous said...

Szer:
That's what I meant baba (I guess the question mark threw you). I remember some friend of yours commenting on your blog and saying she was sitting on the floor directly below his office.

Chronicus Skepticus said...

Szerelem: Arre, but if its *written*, then it's not stalking, no?

You are simply "fulfilling your destiny"!

P.S. The truth is, I can't imagine you being the psycho-stalker type. It's like...Bambi playing Glenn Close.

Swathi Sambhani aka Chimera said...

you lucky gals...one is interviewing Amitav G and the other knows Pamuk's office and people there - color me green, no, make it dark green

DewdropDream said...

Aiyyaaaa!!! Lucky you!!!

I met Ken Follet :D At the launch of World Without End... very charming man... even better voice and I have a personally autographed copy of ze book. I guess I can die in peace... will meet Harper Lee that way :D

Serendipity said...

lol!!!
you cannot tell frm the straps!!! loll!

Felicia said...

LOL!

The one with the bra signing is when Joey throws a rooftop party for his Days of our Lives co-stars and Monica gets a bit carried away with the bra signing :)

And they all forgot and left Chandler to go for some horrible monologue (Why Don't You Like Me?!?) hahaha!

And P.S. I think you take of your shirt and they just sign on your bra. Not that I've ever done it before but I hear that's how it goes.

:)