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A Little Conversation on Reality



We were on a holiday. The surmounting silence of the place tuned within, while I sat in the surrounding wilderness. Rocky peaks peeped behind the clustered treetops; a little river with emerald waters flowed with soft gurgles; monkeys and Malabar squirrels scrambled up and down the branches; a variety of birds chirped continuously as they nestled in the trees. As I partook of nature’s glory silently, my two little nieces joined me on the little stone bench and started a candid conversation.

B: What are you doing Priya?

Me: Just sitting silently

S: You do not come to Bangalore these days….

Me: Hmm… yes…. Will visit you sometime soon.

B: Do you like the place where we stay now or the one that we stayed in Tadoba?

Me: Both are fine, but the location of the one that we are staying now is good. Look! There are three big Malabar squirrels on that tree….

B: But, tell me which place you like the better of the two?

Me: Ok let me tell you something interesting.

The question that you are asking me is of the past. It is from memory. Memory is only in the mind. Similarly, anything regarding future would be of imagination, which is also in the mind. Past and future cannot be real; they exist only in the mind. The present, this scene, here, now is simply real. So let us enjoy it!

It rang a bell. Both of them laughed, and I joined in the laughter.

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