“Why does your mind wander to places you’ve never been before?” Quipped the scientist.

There was pin drop silence. A crow cawed somewhere in the distance to break it. And then a hand shot up, “Professor, how does this relate to the subject?”

He looked at the student, half a smile spreading across his face. Flicking his long, unruly hair he said, “I will reframe the question, for you, Mr. Bijlani. Have you ever been to a place and felt you’ve been there before?”

He looked up at the ceiling in concentration and said, “Ummm, yes I think so. It has happened before.”

“De ja vu. It’s a simple phenomenon. And how does it happen? Doesn’t it have to do something with space, time, volume and energy?”

“Are we going to study how our mind transports us to a place today then? Damn that’s crazy!”

“Incorrect. We are going to study how a simple synapse triggers our mind to be in the same space at the same time and feel the same energy… but twice.”

A loud clang pierced the air as the period ended. “That’s all for today. I hope I have made you curious enough to start your own research,” he said with his empty eyes and a wide smile.

The students looked bright and in awe of their professor. They loved his classes for this particular reason. As they made their way out, the little boy followed the professor. He saw him sitting by a big French window gnawing on a delicious looking sandwich. Taking his chance, he entered the restaurant to sit next to him. “Professor, why did you introduce us to this thought in the class. Since then, all I can think of is that you wanted us to uncover something else.”

“Yes. I wanted to. You’re living in a parallel universe right now. Every time you get a dejavu you snap over to the other side.”

“What? How do you know?”

“I’m the one who discovered it. My paper will be out soon. Try this chicken sandwich, and you’ll know what I mean.”

He took a bite of the warm bread oozing with cheese and a juicy bits of chicken. And just then, he felt it. This moment, this very moment had occurred before.

Congratulations, Mr. Bijlani. You just crossed over.