bhaskar saikia

Life has its little pranks. You may be walking down a road you’ve known for years, or looking at a word you’ve used every day, and suddenly—something feels off. The familiar seems staged, like you’ve stepped onto a set built just for you.

Déjà Vu: The Echo of the Familiar

Most people know déjà vu—that spooky moment when you feel “I’ve seen this before.” It’s like time itself repeats a scene and winks at you, whispering: “Didn’t we do this already?”

It doesn’t need explaining—it just comes and goes, like a ripple through memory.

Jamais Vu: The Strange in the Familiar

Now imagine the opposite. You stare at the word door, and after a few seconds, it looks alien. Door? Doooor? It suddenly feels fake, as though someone invented it on the spot. Or you walk into your own kitchen and, for a blink, it feels like you’ve never seen it before.

That’s jamais vu—when the ordinary reveals its strangeness. It’s life playing a trick on your sense of normal.

Dalí’s Way of Seeing

The surrealist painter Salvador Dalí loved these moments. He would gaze at bread, fruit, or even a clock until they stopped behaving like bread, fruit, or clocks. Then he would paint them stretched, melting, or floating like dream objects.

That’s how his soft, melting clocks or impossibly stretched elephants came alive: by letting the ordinary lose its grip and reveal the hidden, surreal layers beneath.

And for those who don’t know Dalí: yes, he’s the same guy whose face masks the gang wore in Money Heist. So if you’ve ever wondered why the robbers looked so theatrical, now you know—they were borrowing from a man who once showed up to a lecture in a deep-sea diving suit and nearly suffocated because he forgot to open the air supply.

The Joke Hidden in the Glitch

Déjà vu and jamais vu are not curses; they are invitations. One makes you feel you’ve already lived the moment. The other makes you question whether you’ve ever truly known it.

Both are reminders that life is not a fixed script. Sometimes it’s a stage play, sometimes it’s a painting that melts before your eyes. And if you learn to laugh when the familiar betrays you, perhaps you’ll see—as Dalí did—that strangeness is just another flavor of wonder.