Sleep Talking!

Sleep talking

The whole extended family used to gather around when my mother occasionally decides to take an afternoon nap. As she slips into deep slumber, my uncle would ask her, “Manni, where did you keep the left over Upma?”  After a few seconds my mother would blabber in her sleep, “I kept it in the bureau”. And all others sitting around would chuckle. Then the next question. “Where is the new dress?”  She would say, “ Check the fridge”. Another round of chuckles. 

These kind of Q&A were a regular feature in our family when we were children. And once she wakes up we would narrate the whole thing and she would also laugh with us without taking offence of being teased. What a sport!

Much later when Parkinson’s took over, she would imagine many things and say that there are people waiting outside our house, police has come to investigate, press is also waiting, some burglar in the house, someone trying to hit her or kill her, so on and so forth. My brother and family (including the children) would play along and make her feel comfortable every single time she went off into these hallucinations. 

The last few days of hers’, she would talk about my brother arguing with my hubby. She would imagine that The Lord’s procession is on its way and she asked me to get her ready quickly.  She saw things which we did not see. She talked to people who were long gone. In our stupid hopeful minds, all the irrelevant talking and babbling of hers’ were interpreted as hallucinations of Parkinson’s.  We did not think it could be her memory slipping back and forth. She answered a few questions correctly. But when quizzed about what she had for breakfast, she told the doc, “2 puris with sugar and curd rice”. And went on to tell why sugar and why not any potato dish for the sides. In reality she had with much struggle had eaten hardly 2 idlis. In fact I joked with her asking her if the idlis I made tasted like puris! On a different day, she would have laughed at my wit. But this time it struck her that she indeed had idlis that I had fed her and then fell silent. 

Memories, thoughts, ideas, imaginations, creativity - formed the basis of her last few days of sleep talking! Something that we teased her for, became the reason for our tears!! When will I know what she actually went through in her mind!