Sleepless in Pune...?

Saturday, February 20, 2010




Today my eyes opened on their own accord at 5.00 am. My body felt fresh and my mind was light. I tried to remember if I had had a dream while I slept during the night. There was none! I had experienced an ideal sleep!


I’ve suffered from a mild version of insomnia all through my life. To be able to sleep at night has been my biggest struggle. I toss about for hours in my bed before finally catching some sleep. My erratic sleep pattern slowly pushed me towards ‘Chronic Fatigue Syndrome’, a state of chronic fatigue that exists without other explanation for six months or more. However, there have been certain periods in my life, like the two years of my Higher Secondary School, a month or two after I first met my would-be husband, and some of these past months during which I have consciously tried to be creative, when I have been able to enjoy the luxury of a peaceful and uninterrupted sleep. These periods tend to be the ones during which I was basically happy with myself.


Sleep, as it turns out to be in my case, is more of a psychological than a physiological activity. It has always indicated at my state of mind.


I’ve arrived at a certain conclusion about those who belong to the ‘Thinking Person’ category. Such people need to apply their mind to some creative activity or the other. Their urgent need to give expression to their creative ideas is similar to that of a woman experiencing labor pains…the longer the idea or the baby stays inside them, the more unbearable the pain associated with it becomes.