The Last Dreamer

It has been almost six hundred years since the third World War. The five hundredth anniversary of the Imperium Era (I.E) was celebrated by the entire planet. The Empire, which governs the Planet Earth now consists of only  four continents. The foundation of the Empire was laid down by the war survived historiographers, who were the greatest contributors of this Scientific Era. Their efforts in saving the human civilization and preserving many of the Scientific inventions and discoveries lead to the formation of the Empire.

The Council of the Empire takes all the decisions which are implicated on the entire planet. All the regions follow the same regulations. There is no religion, no caste and no race discrimination. The people who go against the decision of the council are prosecuted. It was the Empire which saved the humanity from the catastrophe caused by the world war. They worked hard for more than a century to remove the severe nuclear radiation left by the war.

'I asked you something!' frowned Sri.

'umm yeah. what did you ask?' said Ram.

'I know you heard it. whenever I ask this question, why do you smile and ignore it?'

'I didn't listen properly.'

'Okay, now listen. Will you still love me when I'm no longer young and beautiful' asked Sri, still looking at him.

'That's the lyrics of a song, right?'

'No idiot. Its my question." frowned Sri.

'Yes. I will. But you can say that without looking at me. Keep your eyes on the track.'

'Why are you worrying, we are not on wheels dear. We are on a Magnetic Levitation Car.' she said.

The MagLev car was moving at the speed of 300 miles per hour. The Empire found the pre-world war road and rail transportation system very inefficient as the vehicles generate enormous amounts of friction and heat as they screech down the roads and rails, leading to mechanical wear and energy loss. By contrast, MagLev cars (Magnetic Levitation Cars)  reach speeds faster than 500 miles per hour while hovering a few inches above the rail. Due to their very high speeds, every car must follow the MagLev transportation speed regulations to avoid serious accidents.

An illustration of the MagLev cars, Image Credit: www.sensiino.com

'What if you find out one day that I have a wife and she is not you?' asked Ram.

'That's no problem dear. It's simple. I will just kill your wife.' replied Sri.

'You are crazy.'

'No I'm not.'

Ram knows that Sri has a good sense of humor but there was a hidden seriousness in her voice. Before he can reply to what she just said, a car moving at the speed of almost 400 miles per hour barged into their car. 

Sri immediately shut down the power supply. The coils of the electromagnets stopped conducting electricity as soon as the power supply was ceased. The car slowed down gradually but it was off the track. As soon as the car touched the ground the air balloons popped out covering the entire car and it rolled on the ground for a while. 

'Sri! Sri! are you alright?' asked Ram

'I'm fine. What about you? Damn it, you are bleeding.'

'No. I'm fine. Where are you going?' 

'I will get some help. You just stay there.' 

'No. Wait. Don't cross the track' he said.

She started crossing the levitation track, still looking at him. A car came out of no where and tossed her into the air. Ram couldn't figure out what just happened.

He took some time to release his emotions and screamed 'No. No. Noooooo.!'

Another nightmare? said Ram's mother.

Ram was sitting on the bed with a blank face, trying to figure out what he just saw. He didn't say anything.

'You don't need to suffer like this' said his mother caressing his back.

'Everything's fine mom. I'm not suffering from anything'

'Okay. Sleep well. We will talk about this in the morning.' She kissed on his forehead and left the room.

'Did I tell you that you prepare the best tea?' asked Ram.

'Yes', said his mother happily 'more than a hundred times I guess'. She continued 'have you decided to go the Memory Remotion Lab?'

'Mom, we are not going to talk about this again.' he said  in a low-toned voice. 'Somebody may inform this to the Public safety police.' he continued.

'Let them inform. It is much better than suffering for those memories and dreams, which you don't even deserve. Remember Ram, pretending you don’t have feelings of  sadness or loneliness can literally destroy you mentally.'

Ram couldn't reply to what his mom just said. She was right after all. But wiping of the memory is not the solution he wants. He leaves the room.

The historiographers created a digital encyclopedia of the pre-world war, which was available in every city of the Empire. Though the encyclopedia was incomplete as the Encyclopedists couldn't save all the data. But this same encyclopedia is responsible for a technologically ahead twenty seventh century of Mankind.

'Welcome back sir. Books on Neuroscience?' asked the encyclopedist.

'Yes. By Professor George Wayne please.' said Ram.

Three Holographic three dimensional interfaces appeared in front of him.

'Total 30 results sir.'

'Thank you'

Ram transferred all the data from those interfaces to his data storage gadget and left the library.

All the neuroscientists  were made the head operators of the memory remotion lab across the entire Empire. They were instructed only to perform the memory removal process on the part of the brain called "Amygdala", where the memories which deals with raw emotions are stored. The purpose was to remove the traumatic stresses.The Neuroscientists were strictly prohibited from conducting any other tests on the brains of the patients. Conditions such as anxiety, autism, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and phobias are found to be linked with the abnormal functioning of the Amygdala. A few neuroscientists claimed that it was still possible for people to get fear who have a damaged or shrunken Amygdala. But the Council of the Empire stated that these neuroscientists intended to destroy public confidence in the imperial government for the purposes of their own and they were convicted of heresy. Later the Empire made it mandatory for every citizen to undergo memory remotion.

The part of the brain which is glowing in pink color is Amygdala ,also Known as the "Fear center", Image credit: Shutterstock

"It's been a long time since someone came to this lab. I thought there's nobody left" said Professor Adam Wayne, who is the chief operator of memory remotion lab at the Hyderabad state.

"Well I thought there isn't anyone who is not fascinated by dreams." replied Ram.

'People don't recognize the value of dreams until they realize their dreams have a purpose, which in turn becomes their purpose to come here. But no one ever talked about dreams or neither anyone told me that he is fascinated about dreams.

who are you?'

'I too have a purpose professor.'

'Presumably you haven't come here for memory remotion. Because when people come here, they loose all those little fascination and excitement. They are traumatized and usually come here with a lot of anxiety. And most of them come here as the memory remotion was made mandatory by the Empire.' 
He continued in a low intense tone 'if you have not come here for the wiping process, trust me, it is not safe to discuss here. The Public safety police keeps an eye on every neuroscientist in the Empire as we are not allowed to discuss anything other than the memory remotion.'

'I figured it out too professor. So where can we meet?'

'Elevator park, floor number 105. And make sure you don't bring any electronic gadgets with you.'

'Sure professor' said Ram and left the laboratory.

'Okay lets move. We need to inform this news to the chief.' said David, covering his face with the hood while holding a receiver close to his ear. 

'You think, he is the guy we are searching for? I mean we still don't know what exactly they are up to.' said Sagan.

'He didn't come to laboratory for memory removal. what else you need for conformation? We must inform the chief.'

'So tell me when did your fascination about dreams start?' asked professor Wayne.

'No offence professor but I can't share everything with you right now. why don't we just come to the point before anyone spots us here.' said Ram.

'We are safe here. Trust me. Now, it may look weird to you but I need to know each and everything between you and your dreams right from the inception.'

'Inception! It was the Inception movie which generated interest about dreams in me, in a great level. Science Fiction fascinates me so did Inception.

'No. wait. I'm not talking about that 21st century movie. I'm asking about your real encounter with dreams, which you are facing to this date. It has to be associated with a girl, right?'

'You made that guess because I'm young and particularly a college student, didn't you?'

'Not exactly. It has been found that more than 90% of the dreams which cause anxiety in men consists of women negative dreams and which in turn indicates almost the absence of men in those dreams.

And people of your age have relationship issues, which has a very negative impact on dreams and in turn leads to uncontrollable dreams, you see.'

'Fair enough.'

'But tell me one thing. Why did you approach me? I could have handled you to the police. What made you to trust me?'

'George Wayne! A great neuroscientist. He was your Grandfather, right?'

'And he was executed by the council. He was going to reveal some secrets about the future plans of the Empire. But that happened long time back.' said Professor. 

'Anyways what do you think? you said dreams are fascinating. what makes you think so?' he continued.

'Well dream activity is no less than the great mysteries of our life and universe. Why would the brain of a living being gets highly activated while the body being paralyzed?

Sometimes I think, someone or some unseen power takes control over our brain and simply plays with it with a few known, unknown and random memories. I think dreams tell us something. I believe it has a encrypted data, which can't be easily decrypted.' said Ram.

'Okay, that's good. what did you tell me you do for a living?'

'Well I'm a student and a Science Fiction enthusiast.

'I see. You have some great views kid. So you were telling me when it all started.'

'umm yeah. It started almost two years back. She was two years younger to me. Both of us were pursuing our graduation in different fields and soon we became very close to each other. Then a time came when we were struggling to discover a word better than 'love'. We couldn't give a better name to our relation so we had to continue with 'love'.

'Oh you are very good at storytelling kid' said professor with a smile.

Ram felt little awkward. He didn't like him calling it a story.

'Continue Ram.'

'She used to love me much more than I did and subsequently I was afraid of it. I was afraid of loosing her. I knew she would never ever leave me. But I was afraid that I may leave her. You know, it is difficult for boys to stick to a single girl especially when you are young.

'No. not at all. I loved only one girl. and I'm married to her till this date' said professor.

He continued 'Its the problem with your generation kid, not of the young age. Sorry to interrupt, continue.'

'She would ask me about our future but I wasn't sure. I couldn't promise her about the marriage.'

'So what do you plan to do after our marriage?' asked Ram.

'You don't know?' said Sri.

'I mean, apart from loving me.'

'I will work as an Encyclopedist. The nine to five job, you know.'

'Why? I mean what's the need?'

'To earn money. We have to earn a lot of money, remember? our dreams?'

'That's why I'm here for. That's my job.'

'So you just want me to stay idle at home? doing nothing?' she asked.

'No. No. You're gonna help me in my work. You will be the editor of my stories. And we will have a Dobsonian telescope, you know, the big one. And you will do the post processing of the images of my Astrophotography.'

And?

'And you will entertain me remaining times' said Ram mischievously.

'Oh look who is talking about entertainment. You are gonna entertain me every time.'

Professor Wayne observed two persons sitting at the end of room. One of them was holding a receiver close to his ear.

'Oh damn. They are following us. We need to move, now!' said the professor. 

They left the restaurant and took the elevator. Ram followed him. The Elevator was taking them to the underground level without any stop.

'You said they won't come here' said Ram in a tensed tone.

'I think they are following you. Did you bring any electronic gadget with you?'

'No. I just have data storage device.'

'Well it's not a normal storage device. Its an electronic storage device my friend and that's how they followed you.'

'So what do we do now?' said Ram who was still very nervous.

Professor Wayne opened his bag and took an aerosol can from it and asked Ram to remove his shirt. Ram followed his instruction as he knew what the professor had in his mind.

The Professor started spraying the liquid fabric on his bare skin which dried almost instantly and became a non-woven cloth . He asked Ram to do the same with him.

'I guess this won't stop them from recognizing our faces professor'.

'What's the time?' asked professor.

'And what difference will it make?'

'A train to Bangalore will be leaving from the station, which we are going to catch in a minute. I hope you won't mind having dinner at my home.'

As soon as they came out of the elevator there were hundreds of people who just came out of a train and the others getting aboard the train. Both of them got into the train.

Two persons were running towards the train, trying hard to catch it. But it was too late.
'Damn it. Now what do we inform the chief?' said  Sagan while covering his hood.
'Well I think you do know the answer of your question. We just missed them.' replied David.
'Oh yeah. Thanks for reminding me.' He said in a sarcastic way.

'I never thought to plant an idea in her mind. It wasn't needed' said Ram.

' "Plant an idea?" you mean inception?' asked Professor.

'Yes.'

'But that's not possible. Its just Science fiction.'

'I know professor. I'm sure you will let me complete my words.'
'Carry on.'
'I know it isn't possible. So I decided to plant it in my own mind.'

'You told yourself that you wanted to dream about her before sleeping, right?

'Exactly.'

'And it didn't work.' said Professor, very confidently.
'Well it worked.'
'How?'.

Before the nineteenth century our ancestors slept twice in the night. They used to sleep in two shorter periods, over a longer range of night. This range was about twelve hours long, and began with a sleep of three to four hours, wakefulness of two to three hours, then sleep again until morning. The middle hours of the night, between two sleeps, was characterized by unusual calmness, likened to meditation. This was not the middle-of-the-night toss-and-turn that many of us experienced. The individuals did not stress about falling back asleep, but used the time to relax.

'Okay. Are you telling me that you slept in the same manner which our ancestors did?'

'Yes'

'But why did you do that? I mean what that has to do with planting the idea?'

'We dream not more than four to six times in the night. But what do we remember? Only the last or the second last dream before waking up, which usually occurs after around 2 a.m. I believe that is the time when we undergo REM sleep.'

'I see. You did a fair research about dreams. I didn't expect you  to know about Rapid Eye Movement (REM), where the dreams are occurred as per the early neuroscientists.'

'What do you mean by the early scientists? Don't we dream only in REM sleep?'

'No, we dream in the Non-REM sleep as well.'

Our dream is divided into ninety minutes cycles. the first stages are dominated by the deep sleep when our brain is mainly passive, after that REM and Non-REM sleep occur.

But in the early twenty first century scientists found that we dream in Non-REM sleep too.

'So you were telling you reminded yourself in two stages. And how much time you took to plant that idea?

'Around four to five months.'

'Oh damn! five months is terrible.' 

'Not until you are habituated to the two sleeps.' said Ram

'Okay. What were your thoughts about her when you realized that your idea has been planted in your mind?'

'I was in a stage that I trusted and believed myself to be in a position not to leave her ever.'

'She's a damn lucky girl!'

'No wait! what do you mean by "I trusted and believed". That means not now? You left her, didn't you?' professor frowned. He was very disappointed.

Ram stood silent. He has the answer for the question but it's really difficult to answer. All he knew was that it wasn't his fault.

'I have been calling you from many days. what happened? why you are not picking the call? Anything wrong?' asked Ram.

"I was busy" said Sri.

'So much busy that you didn't even call me on my birthday.

'I didn't remember.'

'What? that wasn't a kind of answer I ever expected from you Sri. You have changed? what happened?'

'Nothing, just don't call me from now onward and don't try to contact me by any means.'

'What do you mean by that?' Ram frowned.

'I mean don't disturb me through any means of communication.'

'What's wrong? why are talking like this today?' said Ram in a tensed tone.

'Why don't you understand? You are irritating me.'

'Okay fine. I am sorry. when you want me to call you back?' He stumbled a little. He was waiting for a positive reply.

'Never' she said in a careless manner.

Ram was going out of control. His hand was literally shaking. He was stammering. 

'I think you got a serious problem. What is it? is it about me?'

'See, I can't talk for a long time, leave me alone.'

'What? wait? what about our marriage? our dreams? which we made together?

'I'm switching off my phone. Good bye.'

'Damn it. How could you loose them? Now how do you think we can intercept Project Avatar? He was our only hope.' said Zimmer, the chief of the Resistance.

'The Neuroscientist helped him chief. He is the grandson of George Wayne.'

'Are you sure?   

'Yes sir, he is Adam Wayne, a neuroscientist.'

'And do they know about the Project?.

'I'm not sure but they didn't talk about it.'

'And what about TET 5? Did they talk about it?'

'I don't think they know about it.'

'I don't care what you think David. He is with a neuroscientist. Don't forget that. We don't have enough time. Find him' Frowned Zimmer.

'Sir! We identified two members of resistance near the Elevator Park.' said the lieutenant of police.

'What were they doing there? Did you take them down?'

'No Sir, we couldn't. We lost them.'

'Then why are you here? for wasting my time?'

'Of course not sir. But they were following someone. I think someone who didn't undergo memory remotion'

'What the hell you are talking about? I got the report by Health commission that there is no one left.'

'The report maybe authentic Sir. But the resistance never comes out unless they are looking for someone.'

'In that case take as many people you require and search him. Don't disappoint me.' said the Commissioner of Public Safety police.

To be continued...

Christopher Nolan: The Godfather

A Tribute to Christopher Nolan on his 43rd Birthday...

Christopher Nolan has inspired me so much that I even get the dreams related to stories of his movies and my half remembered latest dream was a little related to "Inception", featuring a dream within a dream.

With my own experiences and after having a few discussions with some of my friends and some acquaintances, I have found that after watching the movies of Nolan, u start to think beyond the box, beyond the normal imagination and you become more optimistic than ever.

When I got to know about his upcoming movie-"Interstellar", I was very much excited and a lot of questions started striking in my mind.

So one day I was thinking about what could be the possible script of the movie, which of course no one else can even come close to the original script but still I was trying to figure it out. I was listening to the tracks of Hans Zimmer, which I sometimes do when I think something curiously, and it was the "Time" soundtrack from the Inception movie and I was listening to it again and again.

At that moment, I started developing a story in my mind which was related to Interstellar Missions and Extra Terrestrial Intelligence. It was completely a science fiction story which involved my education, my interests and my family and it seemed to be a very good story with an awesome plot and it was very much realistic, not just that, it increased my confidence to a great level.

I'm still working on it and in future I wish to see a feature film based on it...

In his college years Nolan made two short films, Tarantella and Larceny and later he made his third short Doodlebug, about a man chasing an insect with a shoe around a flat, only to discover on killing it that it was a miniature of himself. 

Nolan has made eight features in thirteen years, which apparently is quite few, in comparison with many other filmmakers. The movies are: Following (in black and white), Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins, The Prestige, The Dark Knight, Inception and The Dark Knight Rises.

All his movies are critically acclaimed as well as loved by the audience for the typical non-linear type story telling, the screenplay, story, acting performances, and of course the direction-all being the top notch.

An interesting thing about Christopher Nolan is that he started to do films starring his Lego figures when he was only seven years of age, with his Super 8 mm camera. It really proves that a path into the film industry can start out very basically, out of almost nothing.

Following

Following is the story of a writer who develops a fondness for the following people to get inspiration for his book until he meets a thief named 'Cobb'. 

Shot in a non-linear style, it is a typical trademark Nolan movie with such twists that are very difficult to anticipate. Following was shot on a very tight budget, only on Sundays as most of the actors in the movie had other full time jobs.

Memento

Memento, follows (in reverse) a guy who loses his short term memory. It is one of my favorite movies, it is incredibly detailed with an awesome plot. It takes a genius to make such a story, at some points it gets just hard to keep track where the movie is headed. Once you watch the entire movie, you will definitely rewind to various scenes to figure out your understanding of Memento and expect you did not get it wrong or miss out anything.

Nolan has done a stunning job of telling a story in fragments, giving the audience a sense of how Leonard (Guy Pierce) must feel.

The movie can be very confusing at times, but it is never distracting or unpleasant. The sense of confusion only heightens the tension and suspicion we feel as the movie progresses.

Watch Memento, and then watch it again, to catch the things you missed the first time.

Insomnia

This is the third feature directed by Nolan and it arguably holds the most significance to his career.

Until Insomnia, he hadn't really worked with any big-name actors and it's fair to say that his ability to create grounded, intriguing pictures wasn't enough for Warner Brothers to let Nolan decode the fate of Batman.

Insomnia was a stepping-stone needed to launch Nolan into his massive celebrity.

Out of all the films Nolan has made, this one was easily the most intense one. Insomnia features some beautiful landscapes, powerful acting with Al Pacino and Robin Williams. Its a movie every fan of Nolan should watch, as well as people into detective mysteries, or Pacino fans.

The Prestige

Here comes the mysterious story of two magicians whose intense rivalry leads them on a life-long battle for supremacy full of obsession, deceit and jealousy with dangerous and deadly consequences.

The Prestige was a novel written by Christopher Priest that Nolan adapted into a film with the same title.

Priest, who wrote the novel watched the film three times since 2007. His reactions were, "Well, holy S***," then "God, I like that," and finally "Oh, I wish I would have thought of that."

Full of twists and turns, The Prestige is set against the backdrop of turn of the century London.

I was glad to see Nicola Tesla presented as such a genius in the film, far ahead of his time and Tesla's brilliance is a strong theme underpinning the film.

He makes a classic statement in the film. Something to the effect that "you can only make a revolutionary discovery in a lifetime. If you go beyond that, then you will be shunned."

I wonder how many people even imagined the possibility of Tesla inventing the technology depicted in the film. Certainly the point was made that man is prone to abuse the technology he is given.

Inception

Inception is a movie so made, that no one till date has been able to figure it out completely. 

There are many blogs/sites on the internet trying to explain the meaning of the movie-the spinning top in the end, the dream levels, the dreamer and the subconscious, etc.

Ariadne asks Cobb "why it is so important you to dream?", to which he replies "In my dreams we are still together" and then Ariadne realizes that these are not just dreams, these are memories...

The above conversation is very close to me as I can relate it to myself. Observations such as these, make Nolan an incredible thinker. The whole gravity shifting sequence, the dream levels, the kick to come up the dream levels and eventually wake up from the dream, the process of inception makes the audience to ponder over the movie for days or weeks or even months to follow, In fact Christopher Nolan is performing inception on us throughout the movie.

The Batman Trilogy

"Because he's the hero Gotham deserves,

 but not the one it needs now.

 So we'll hunt him because he can take it.

 Because he's not our hero.

 He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector.

 A dark Knight."

                              
                        - Jim Gordon

Almost many of the movie lovers must have seen Christopher Nolan's Batman movies by now. Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises are perhaps three of the best superhero movies of all time. They are so different from other superhero movies, that they seem to be in the wrong genre sometimes. This is my favorite trilogies of all time.

It goes to show that superhero movies don't always have to be typical summer flicks, which you watch, enjoy and forget. Some movies are unforgettable, you can watch them hundreds of times.

I would say that the greatness of a movie can be measured by how much the audiences discuss it after the movie has ended. If a movie stays with you after you have left the theater  you can be assured that it affected you in some way. And if cinema can effect you, it is great.

The Batman trilogy is still being discussed. Nolan crafted a trilogy that got critical acclaim as well as audience adulation. This is the rarest things for a movie to achieve.

I have watched this trilogy countless times and analyzed it to the best of my ability.

Batman's ultimate challenge is to recognize that it's not what he owes to the people of Gotham that matters, but what he owes to himself. Batman has been with me since I was a child, whether I understood his turmoil or not, and I cant imagine that any comic book film adaptation can or will match Nolan's trilogy.

Interstellar

Interstellar will be coming to our solar system on 7th November 2014.

This is a gravitational wave movie based on a screenplay by Kip Thorne, a longtime friend and colleague of Stephen Hawking and Carl Sagan.

Science fiction at its best: Based on actual science, this movie will be an exploration of physicist Kip Thorne's theories of gravity fields, wormholes, and several hypotheses that Albert Einstein was never able to prove.

Exact plot details remain a closely guarded secret but we do know that the story moves around a group of scientists travelling through a wormhole into another dimension and that time travel may be a factor.

This movie is set to push the minds of the audience to the limit with it's script being influenced by the physicist, Kip Thorne.

Conclusion

Christopher Nolan is a man whose work should be highly appreciated, and deserves all the respect it already gets. Typical for his films are fast cuts, and that they usually starts showing parts of the end. Some look at his films as confusing and lacking emotions, but I consider most of them excellent intellectual pieces of artwork. If you haven't seen some of these films you should definitely give them a try...