Sleep - Writing.

Ah!!! The topic itself sounds funny. All must have heard of sleep- walking, sleep-talking but no one has heard of sleep writing. Well….to make it clear, this one of those unique qualities which I discovered in myself. It was the second semester in college... we were having the Molecular Biology class (Dhanashekharan sir) or D.D as we used to call him used to teach us. I, Aashi and Mayu were his favorites. We were made to sit in the first bench in all his classes. Somehow, we enjoyed his teaching a lot. The amount of knowledge we gained from him still accounts for my strong base in Mol Bio.

We were being taught about the Loop/ Rolling Circle mechanism of Replication and he was teaching about the (Single Stranded Binding Protein or SSB). I was damn sleepy that day and it was the morning class. We’ve heard of students sitting and sleeping in the first bench but my case was different. I was sitting and sleeping in the first bench with my pen in hand and it was also moving. Somewhere a faint voice of D.D sir was ringing in my mind while I was sleeping and my hand kept moving. I didn’t know what I was writing and what I was listening. This was such a slow and calm process that I didn’t realize that I was actually writing in sleep.

Suddenly, I was woken up by Mayu and Aashi who just brushed their elbows on my shoulder and said,” Archu, get up. Uth jaa . Sir dekh rahe hain.”
Ah!! I was wide awake, I just woke up as if I was out of some dream. I had had a good sleep. It can be called as a mini-nap also as it lasted only for 3-4 minutes. Then I saw that these 2 girls were laughing at me pointed towards my notebook. I rubbed my eyes and took a closer look. I had actually written what all sir had taught but the funny part was, nothing was proper. Three lines were written on top of the other and then I had written Single Stranded Bus Stand in place of SSB protein. After that my pen had stopped at a point. There was a dot with scribbling on the same area. My pen had moved just like the patterns shown by the heart beat recorded in an ECG. This was amazing!! I had never experienced this … I joined these 2 girls and started laughing. Sir had left class by then. It was a matter of fun for everyone in my hostel.

Things were pretty normal after this incident. Each semester there had to be one class where I used to do this “ Sleep-Writing”. It was nothing decided but very spontaneous. The same thing happened in the next semester in Clinical Bio Chem. class, 4th semester in Genetics class, 5th Semester ( Nothing. Thanks to the faculty)I didn’t sleep, 6th semester in the Environmental Biotech class. My notebooks are still preserved and I cannot do away with them. They are worth a hearty laugh .

My sleep writing habit continues and I generally do this sitting in the front bench when I am right in front of the teacher. I can write the craziest things when I am sleeping like this. Should I call myself asleep, awake in the mind or half asleep…??? I don’t know!
Must ask a psychologist…but must tell u it’s a great part of my life. What I write when I am in such a state is generally something out of the world and irrelevant to the topic of my concern.

It is not restricted to writing alone but also seen in text messages(SMS). I have typed all weird things and sent. My poor friends who had to bear with my, while-in-sleep messages. The next day I get up, check my sent message box…. I laugh at myself and also get embarrassed. Then I realize that I’ve got great friends around who bear with me and the one who gets to see this the maximum time is all greater!!