Nindiya rani

“Dhiire se aajaa rii Ankhiyan Me…. Nindiyaa aajaa rii aajaa, Dhiire se aajaa”
This is a very beautiful song from the movie Albela (1951), very famous bollywood lori*. In the movie hero sings this song for the heroine and she goes to deep sleep… which makes me feel jealous of her. Are you wondering why I am green-eyed on her if she is sleeping? Am I jealous because she has a hero to sing songs for her, whereas I don’t have a side hero also? What is there which agitates me?
Okay, enough of these scary question marks (?), as they remind me of my school exams. The torture we use to undergo for full three hours. That doesn’t mean I hate to go to school, actually I use to wait for my school bus on Sundays also :).

Well, before I go back to my school days let me come to the main topic. Yes I was talking about my envy for the heroin in that song. To be precise, my concern is not the lady in song but her sleep. I feel jealous about how conveniently she gets her sleep whereas I need to toss around on my bed for hours before I could enter my fairy world of dreams. I have this problem with sleep, it takes me time or say takes more time than the normal human of my age. All the thoughts waiting for their encounter with my brain throughout the day get active at bed time. All the pending work will make their entry in my head at that hour of the day when I am looking for some rest. I keep changing my position on bed with the hope that this new position will attract Nindiya rani (term used for sleep in lori*) and she will come to me, running in slow motion wearing white gown as the heroines in the Hindi movies of late 80’s. But all my creativity goes for a toss when she dislikes me over others and comes to me only when she is done with everyone. But in the morning, she is not ready to leave me after three alarms also. Every morning I run and catch my office bus. And all fellow passengers give me a look ‘AGAIN’. If I plan to go by the next bus which comes after 30 min from the first bus, I get the last seat as many people prefer this pickup time and my stop is the last pickup point. This leads me to reach office bouncing up & down… People who ever got to sit on the last seat of the bus in Bangalore can empathize with me better.

Now you see how one problem creates other problem and becomes the reason for it. among so many reasons for so many problems I have to find out the root cause which is creating all this mess, and that will lead to the foolproof solution.(just trying to show off my Quality circle* skills ;) ). Hence to get sleep on time I have tried many things. Few cases are listed below.

Case 1 #
One friend of mine who claims to get sleep as soon as he is on bed, Suggested. “Do not let sleep become a problem to you. When you go on bed close your eyes and imagine yourself as the king of a big Kingdom. You have the task to keep all your countrymen happy. What should you do to keep them happy? Think about it and trust me you will fall asleep in minutes.”
I can see the change in expression on your face. You must be anticipating is this guy brainsick. He is giving more work to the brain and expecting it to find rest. How he gets sleep like this? Is he an Indian politician? As only they can sleep when asked to think about nation’s development (remember the parliament session)… Please put a brake on all the perceptions you are making about my friend, as he is mentally alright, and he is not a politician too. Even my mind does not accept his idea but being a good friend I should trust my buddies. And just for the sake of the bond we share I tried it myself. Yes I did. Now please don’t think that I am half-baked, as it did not work for me. Thank god I am alright .

Case 2 #
This one I learned from my yoga teacher. In his words “Every one lay down on your back. Leave your body free. Now starting from little toe see your body in imagination. See each part of your body one by one. Relax that part and move on to the next part.” We were supposed to start this relaxation process from little toe and end it on top of our head. You won’t believe me but I saw people sleeping in the class while doing this exercise (may be they slept as they got bored seeing them self’s). Sooner the Om chanting sound got a new rhythm of snores. With very few conscious minds left in the class, including me and our yoga teacher. I feel the number of conscious minds could have been more if we were asked to check in girls on brigade road (for me brigade road is the best place to upgrade ones knowledge on latest fashion trends).
Later I tried this exercise at home also. But whenever I try this not even a single time I fall asleep. Instead my body starts feeling very light; I feel I am going through near death experience. (People who faced near death experience say they feel very light, as if they are floating in air.)

Case 3 #
Mom said “Do some physical activity, once you are tired you will get sleep fast”. And I started looking for ways to make myself physically tired. I must tell you it is not an easy job for someone like me who sits in front of the computer for 10 to 11 hours a day, leaving the seat only to go for lunch or to use the restroom. It is a challenging task to look for opportunities to make my body tired enough so that I get sleep as soon as I am on bed. I tried walking for some days by getting down before my stop. And the result was an increase in my earring collection as I am very fond of these colorful dangling pieces which add attraction to the face instantly, and there were plenty of such shops on that way. But Nindiya rani is not so fashion conscious; she did not accept the earring bribe and rejected me again.

Apart from these cases I even tried reading. But all the books except course books were interesting. I ended up being awake for more time than the usual. Poor me failed to attract Nindiya rani again :(.

With so many failures again and again, I am not losing my hopes. I am sure one day Nindiya rani will become my friend, and will take me to deep sleep filled with sweet dreams. One day Nindiya rani will give me some place in her heart and will come to me whenever I will call her. I will also enjoy 6 to 7 hours sleep and will catch my office bus without running behind it and reach office peacefully. I pray the same for everyone who has starting trouble like me (with sleep). May god bless us all with good sleep on right time :).

*lori: lullaby.
*Quality Circle: group of people, who are trained to identify, analyse and solve work-related problems and present their solutions in order to improve the performance of the organization.