Dreaming Awake - By Goutham Linga

Written By: Goutham Linga

Category: Creative Non-Fiction

Competition: Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026

In the profound narrative "Dreaming Awake," Goutham Linga offers a reflective exploration of South Africa's enduring spirit. Submitted to the Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026, this piece of creative non-fiction delves into themes of resilience, hope, and belonging. Linga's narrative is a contemplative journey through South Africa’s rich history and cultural tapestry, offering an introspective look at a country that has deeply influenced the author’s understanding of home and humanity.

About the Work

"Dreaming Awake" unfolds with a meditative tone, exploring the juxtaposition between South Africa's historical struggles and its persistent pursuit of hope. Linga employs vivid imagery and introspective observations to paint a picture of a land that has endured division yet continues to strive for coexistence. The narrative is rich with reflections on resilience, highlighting ordinary acts of courage and the quiet strength found in everyday life.

Dreaming Awake

Original Submission by Goutham Linga

Dreaming Awake

By Goutham Linga

South Africa stands at the southern edge of a continent carrying histories large enough to overwhelm easy description.

Its mountains appear patient. Rivers travel long distances. Oceans continue their conversation with stone. The landscape often gives an impression of permanence.

Yet beneath permanence lies memory.

This country remembers.

Long before democracy, long before reconciliation became aspiration, South Africa learned endurance.

It learned waiting.

It learned division.

It learned how communities survive when uncertainty settles into everyday life.

Perhaps that is why one aspect of South Africa continues surprising me:

Despite history, the country repeatedly attempts hope.

For more than a decade, South Africa has been part of my life. I arrived from India carrying ordinary expectations-work, responsibility, stability. I expected adaptation.

I did not expect attachment.

At first, difference was obvious.

Language.

Custom.

Distance from familiarity.

Migration often begins by noticing what feels absent.

Over time, however, attention changes.

You stop measuring difference.

You begin observing.

Neighbours greeting strangers without ceremony.

Workers carrying hardship without surrendering dignity.

Children laughing in places where previous generations experienced fear.

Belonging rarely arrives dramatically.

Sometimes it accumulates quietly.

Living in South Africa also meant encountering its history more closely.

I listened.

I listened in Soweto, where memory continues alongside daily life.

I listened on Robben Island, where confinement failed to erase conviction.

I listened to stories of resistance, inequality, negotiation, and rebuilding.

Again and again, one thought returned:

How does a society endure profound division and continue choosing coexistence?

I still do not know the full answer.

Perhaps no country fully does.

Yet South Africa offered an unexpected lesson.

Strength is not always visible.

Sometimes strength survives imprisonment without surrendering humanity.

Sometimes strength belongs to women refusing systems designed to limit them.

Sometimes strength appears in young people questioning inherited injustice.

And sometimes strength looks ordinary:

People continuing despite disappointment.

The world frequently remembers South Africa through apartheid.

The association is understandable.

But apartheid is not the whole story.

The deeper story may be what followed.

A country divided by law attempted something unusual:

To rebuild while remembering.

To acknowledge pain without remaining entirely defined by it.

To imagine shared futures despite unequal histories.

That process remains unfinished.

Perhaps meaningful healing always remains unfinished.

Still, there is courage in continuation.

Over the years, I have seen many languages become conversation.

I have seen communities rebuild ordinary lives after extraordinary disruption.

I have watched resilience appear quietly-not celebrated, simply practiced.

South Africa is often called the Rainbow Nation.

The phrase risks becoming symbolic through repetition.

Yet symbols persist for reasons.

Rainbows suggest harmony.

People sometimes forget they also suggest weather.

Storms arrive first.

Loss arrives first.

Nothing luminous appears without passing through difficulty.

When I think about South Africa now, I do not first think of monuments or political figures.

I think of smaller things.

A schoolchild carrying books.

A worker leaving home before sunrise.

A mother protecting hope inside difficult circumstances.

Ordinary acts.

Repeated daily.

Nations may depend upon such acts more than speeches.

Living here altered some of my assumptions.

About resilience.

About belonging.

About what home eventually becomes.

I was born in India.

That truth remains unchanged.

Yet another truth now exists beside it:

Part of my understanding of courage formed in South Africa.

Part of my understanding of inequality deepened here.

Part of my understanding of hope changed here.

Perhaps attachment to a country does not always begin through origin.

Sometimes it begins through gratitude.

South Africa is not only a place where I have lived.

It became a place that expanded how I understand humanity.

And perhaps that is what certain countries leave behind in those who spend enough time listening:

Not possession.

Not certainty.

Something quieter.

A lasting alteration.

The recognition that home occasionally grows larger than birthplace-

and that courage, once witnessed closely,

changes the way you move through the world.

About the Competition

The Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026 by Hashtag Kalakar is a prestigious platform celebrating diverse voices and stories from around the world. This competition invites participants to share their unique perspectives through poetry, short stories, essays, and creative writing. It fosters a global community of writers eager to explore and express the human experience in all its facets.

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Goutham Linga for sharing "Dreaming Awake" in the Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026. Your eloquent reflections on South Africa’s enduring spirit and your personal journey enrich our understanding of resilience and belonging. Thank you for contributing your voice and narrative to this global celebration of creative expression.

About Hashtag Kalakar

Hashtag Kalakar is a creative platform dedicated to providing artists, writers, singers and other creative talents with opportunities to showcase their work and reach wider audiences through competitions, features and creative initiatives.