Hemant’s mouth dried. He drank the water in front of him and wiped his mouth. Dr. Sen was one of the most well-known psychologists in the city. Besides what has happened was already embarrassing to him. Would he believe after all?
“So. Hemant. What do you want to tell me?” Dr. Sen smiled.
“Well, I’m originally from Faridabad. I’ve been working in Hyderabad for the last 2 years as a software engineer.” Hemant paused.
“Yes?”
“Actually, something happened a few days ago. I’m, well, a bit worried.” Hemant’s jitters were obvious.
“Look Hemant, first of all congratulations for taking the bold step of consulting a professional about your concerns. Do you know how many people in your condition would’ve delayed this decision for years, often decades, till the time it wrought havoc on their lives? Don’t worry, Hemant. We’re here to solve your problems, and the first step is talking about it.”
“Yes doctor.” Hemant took a deep breath and started.
“I live in a rented room on the roof of my landlord’s home. A few days back I when I was sitting on a chair after dinner watching TV, something happened. I kind of went into a trance, as if I was not in control of myself anymore, it was like…” Hemant couldn’t find the words to describe.
“Soon I was somewhere else. It seemed like I was in Faridabad, somewhere near my home. I was on my way to college. Soon I reached college and I was attending classes. But it didn’t seem like the lectures were on the same subject which I had studied in college. It seemed more like literature or something similar.”
“I continued in this life for a few days. Going to college, attending classes, coming back home…business as usual-just like I was, when I was actually there. There was just one difference. There was Nisha. Actually Nisha was a classmate of mine in college. I was never close friends with her. But I had started to like her the moment I’d seen her. She had these thick black eyelashes…” Hemant’s cheeks reddened. He didn’t intend to start a discussion about Nisha’s eyelashes with Dr. Sen.
“Well this time, I mean in this trance that I mentioned, I was friends with Nisha. We used to study together, have fun together and all of that. And I felt that not only I was falling in love with Nisha, but perhaps also she was falling in love with me. Then one day after classes she smiled a shy smile and gave me a folded piece of paper. It was at this point that I came out of the trance into reality and found myself sitting in front of the TV like before. I looked at the clock on the wall and saw that only 10 minutes had passed.”
“But you know that there’s a very simple explanation to all this, don’t you?” Dr. Sen said.
“Yes, I know. The explanation is that I had fallen asleep and I was dreaming. But there’s just one problem with that.”
“And what’s that?”
“I had the piece of paper still in my hands when I woke up, ‘I love you’ clearly written on it, in Nisha’s hand.”
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