A story of a dream, a dream of a story!

What are the qualities of a good story? I know some people would find it easy to answer. They may say that like a speech, a story should have an introduction, a body and a conclusion. Some may say, well, not really. A story should have a backdrop, a climax and a resolution. And some may say, a story must have its characters! Well if you ask me, I do not find it easy to define what a story should be. Well, a story may never have a beginning or an end, a problem or a solution. So, without breaking heads over what it should be, let us just sit back and listen to it. If we like it, well, let’s call it a story.

A very good morning, dear readers. Sit back, as I tell you a story from my own life.

For a long time, the subject of dream has intrigued me personally. What are dreams, really? Philosophers say it is a projection of our own reality, and psychologists say it is our subconscious mind that builds pictures. But then, if reality is just a matter of perspectives, as they say, then why are dreams unreal?

This is two years back from now. It was late night that day and I was sitting in my office cab, playing with my blackberry, waiting for Driver bhaiya to start the car when it’s time. Suddenly a story idea struck me. Yes, story ideas always strike me at the weirdest of moment, in the non-quietest of times. I picked up my Blackberry and started typing into it a story, making up the plot as I wrote. It was a few months since I had started writing, and I was well quite in my groove. That day, that story I was writing was about dreams, and about parallel planes of reality. It was a story of a lady and her world of magic realism. Done, dusted, I mean published, and forgotten, just as it happens!

About a year back, my husband asked me suddenly if I remember that story that I once wrote. I said, yes. Soon enough, it found a space on our desk in form of scribbled dialogues and sketched back-drops… He told me that he wanted to make that into a film - a short-film. Dreams do come true, you see! A dream of a story, and a story of a dream.

By the way, remember what we were discussing about qualities of a good story? Well, irrespective of what anyone tells you, a story must always have a happy ending. If it is not happy, it is not the end, yet!