As one of the few who take it easy during the daytime, it’s with some amusement that I watch people hurrying about the teeming capital city.

Why the rush, I don’t understand. But many people do not seem to relish rest and sleep even on sweltering summer days. Only those who know celebrate the joys of daytime naps. One or two hours of it really refreshes you and keeps your fatigue away. It will give you the energy to set to work with redoubled vigour. I even venture to say that if one spent all one’s working hours nodding off, one might be able to increase one’s efficiency the next day to a level never seen before. I mean, no one’s tried that before. The taste of the pudding lies in eating.

Who knows? For yours truly, there is nothing in the world like dozing off into a fantasy-filled Nirvana. Isn’t it incredible that we can realise our dreams, asleep at home, without having to lift a finger? You might once find yourself a pauper, and then all of a sudden, you might see yourself be crowned the emperor of the whole world, and so on and so forth. Embrace a buxom diva today, and trounce Michael Schumacher tomorrow. What can’t a determined dreamer do?

Dreams are not true, you say. What is? Is everything we perceive through our sense organs true: movies, romantic songs, literature, God, and the very concept of truth itself? Seriously, isn’t it better to be in cloud nine even in a dream? Can masala movies give you a sense of reality? But you derive great enjoyment from watching such films. What harm is there in experiencing all the pleasures of the world, and sometimes, even horrors, while in the lap of the goddess of sleep. How often do the dreams we see with open eyes materialise? And what disappointment when they don’t! But the dreams don’t disappoint.

Ah, those beautiful dreams she had me seeing. Those empty promises, that beguiling smile, her unlimited generosity, that sly, demure look, eh, idiots to let ourselves be fooled time and again. No more.

Nothing compares that feeling of being in a world free from all the trials and tribulations. What bliss to be transported to a realm of fantasy and umpteen possibilities — and no heartbreaks! Escapist? Touché, friends.