#NIGHTMARES

*#NIGHTMARES*

A kid just woke up with a start, his heart is racing; pounding almost. He had his worst nightmare. In it he saw his class teacher tearing apart his notebook for bad handwriting. Tomorrow in his school he has to submit his assignment.

A teenager too woke up, sweat all over his face. He had his worst nightmare. In it he saw he had failed to get admission to his favourite course. Tomorrow is the day merit list comes out.

A girl woke up too, gasping for air. She had her worst nightmare. In it she saw herself being tortured by her in laws. Tomorrow is the day, she is going to get married to a stranger whom she has met only once.

A soldier woke up too, he had his worst nightmare. In it he saw himself being killed by an enemy from behind. Tomorrow is the day he gets his marching orders on a new covert mission.

A footballer woke up too. He had his worst nightmare. In it he missed a simple penalty shoot. Tomorrow is the finals of the tournament. 

A surgeon woke up too. He had his worst nightmare. In it the surgery he performed went horribly wrong and ended up with fatal complications. Tomorrow is the day he is going to perform his first independent surgery!

The kid, the boy, the girl, the soldier, the footballer, the surgeon, all check their clocks. It says 2:00 AM. 

Their 'tomorrow' has already begun. In that moment of horror, sleep has eluded them and the fear has taken over. The fear of failure and guilt of not living up to expectations- in all probability bigger than any other failure known to man.
Growing up doesn't help, nightmares will continue and get worse, the kid will soon realize, neither do they stop even if you are the most well trained or the most skilled person in your field as surgeon and footballer will eventually realize. 
As stars twinkle and moonlight does a lonely dance, some people are awake, fighting their nightmares, their inner demons! It's just a nightmare, their brains try to trick their pounding hearts.  ''Soon the morning will overpower the night. The sun will mask the moon. And so they must too get up, face the world and mask their fears. They need to appear confident or else someone will take advantage of their fears. The darkness needs to be conquered and not surrendered to.'' Their brains tell them. If they are to be successful 'today', their brains must overpower their hearts.
Now you might wonder what is the need to write this up?
Well, there is something beautiful about the human heart in conflict with itself!!

- *Devashish Palkar*