How do you sleep?

Given my exemplary history of laziness, one would think that falling asleep shouldn't be too tough a task for me. Unfortunately that has never been the case.

In my 26 years of existence, I still haven't mastered the art of falling asleep. I am not talking about dozing off in class rooms or cubicles. Those are involuntary actions. But just lying down, and...poof...falling asleep? Beyond me. Totally.

I also have a problem of getting up. Actually waking up is also a problem, but since the "getting up" is more arduous, I tend to ignore the "waking up" part. But I have come up with some sort of a solution to this. And snoozing the alarm clock isn't it. One needs to hear the alarm ring to actually press the god-sent snooze button. My sleep is too sound for sound to get through.

I have 5 alarms set. It is just a matter of sheer luck that the 5th one is the waking one. The first four just provide the build-up. I might hear them, I might register them, but I dont register them for what they actually are. Let me give you an example. It happened just this morning...

My 6:30 alarm is the initial 20 seconds of the Tamizha Tamizha song. And so I hear it in my sleep. I realise that I am dreaming. I wait with immense expectation for Hariharan's voice...and...nothing! The music repeats itself. This time I think about the backdrop against which Rahman initially composed this song (the Cauvery riots), and wait expectantly...and...nothing! That's when it hits me that the music isn't in my head, but it's the damn alarm!

Yup...that's how bad I am.

But getting back to sleeping.

I know of people who just need to put their head on the pillow, and they are flat out gone.

I know of others who just need the driver of the bus/car to switch on the ignition, and they are snoring by the time the gears have fallen.

And then there is me.

I close my eyes. And then begin thinking. Incoherent rambling. Something like my blog.

Every 10 minutes I force myself to fall asleep, and end up thinking even more of unconnected things. It eventually takes almost an hour or so before I think I stop thinking.

(Of course there could be occassions when I could be up the entire night...but those stories are for a different day, different audience)

I envy all the people for whom sleep is not an effort. And I just wish it were the same for me as well...sigh.