Déjà Vu

While I was at Raju's place along with a small group of friends last weekend, I experienced déjà vu*. Like many, I too experience déjà vu every once in a while and get that weird feeling.

We were sitting and chatting, and Kiran asked Siri a question. On hearing it, I immediately had a strong feeling that I was at that exact scene some time before, and I heard the same question! - the setting was the same, Siri was wearing the same outfit, same group of people, same ambiance etc. I had this eerie feeling that continued for the next 30 seconds or so. I knew what Siri was going to reply, and she gave the exact response I was expecting! Added to that, I also knew that Raju was going to interject with a comment and he did, with the exact comment I had in mind! So, I knew the future for a brief period of time!! I wonder if I had blurted out my observation say after the first 5 seconds, if the same conversation I had in mind would have continued for the next 25 seconds or so! I read somewhere that about 70% of us experience déjà vu at one time or the other.

The scientific community believes that déjà vu is a trick that our minds plays with us once in a while, but I find it hard to dismiss it as non-paranormal. With these occasional experiences of (apparent?) precognition, I wouldn't rule out the possibility that clairvoyance could be an innate capability for many (or all) of us. Perhaps some (e.g., genuine psychics, if any) have it stronger than the others.

Regarding déjà vu and precognition, here are a couple of quotes from one of my favorite movies, The Matrix:

[Neo sees a black cat walk by them, and then a similar black cat walk by them just like the first one]

Neo: Whoa. Déjà vu. [Everyone freezes right in their tracks]

Trinity: What did you just say?

Neo: Nothing. Just had a little déjà vu.

Trinity: What did you see?

Cypher: What happened?

Neo: A black cat went past us, and then another that looked just like it.

Trinity: How much like it? Was it the same cat?

Neo: It might have been. I'm not sure.

Morpheus: Switch! Apoc!

Neo: What is it?

Trinity: A déjà vu is usually a glitch in the Matrix. It happens when they change
something.

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Oracle: I'd ask you to sit down, but, you're not going to anyway. And don't worry about the vase.

Neo: What vase?

[Neo turns to look for a vase, and as he does, he knocks over a vase of flowers, which shatters on the floor]

Oracle: That vase.

Neo: I'm sorry...

Oracle: I said don't worry about it. I'll get one of my kids to fix it.

Neo: How did you know?

Oracle: Ohh, what's really going to bake your noodle later on is, would you still have broken it if I hadn't said anything?

* From How Stuff Works: The term déjà vu is French and means, literally, "already seen." Those who have experienced the feeling describe it as an overwhelming sense of familiarity with something that shouldn't be familiar at all. Say, for example, you are traveling to England for the first time. You are touring a cathedral, and suddenly it seems as if you have been in that very spot before. Or maybe you are having dinner with a group of friends, discussing some current political topic, and you have the feeling that you've already experienced this very thing -- same friends, same dinner, same topic.