Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Time


"Time is an illusion" thundered Professor.

It was a special night with Professor Rajkumar on the topic of "Time". Rajkumar was highly skilled not only in his chosen subject (Physics) but also in spiritual topics (particularly those relating to Hinduism), and their parallels. All the attendants of the session were listening with rapt attention. Pin-drop silence.

"Have you not heard the famous Einstein quote that an hour sitting with a pretty girl on a park bench passes like a minute, but a minute sitting on a hot stove seems like an hour? That's relativity. Everything is only relative and there's absolutely nothing absolute." Some of the audience, their mouth agape, wondered at the professor's word play.

Professor went on. "What science and religion are saying is one and the same. That time is just a perspective based on the frame of reference. So never worry about anything in your life. There is nothing urgent. Life is your own. Learn how to enjoy it in your own terms and in your own time."

Crowd was now very quiet as if in trance. Professor continued to milk them. "Now, close your eyes, and take 5 deep breaths."

Everyone instinctively started breathing and closing their eyes. Then, the professor's mobile vibrated.

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"How did you feel? Let's try one more thing to understand the illusion of time better. Now, close your eyes again, take few deep breaths for few minutes and keep listening to the sound around you till I ask you to open your eyes." With this statement, professor went to the backstage to check his mobile.

It was a reminder. On reading the reminder, the professor's eyes started dilating. He immediately placed a call to his best friend Santhosh.

"Hey Prof, how are you man? Great to hear from such a busy fellow!" said Santhosh with a joyful tone.

"Santhosh, I have an urgent request. Can you ..."

"Hey, just a minute. My grandson is asking for my attention. Achuchu, jijipa, you wet the diapers so frequently uh?" Santhosh started changing the diapers of his grandson.

Now, professor's patience went through the roof. He was praying Santhosh to get back to the call quickly. "Tell me prof" Santhosh said. Professor was relieved. "Great, I ..."

"Oh no, sorry prof. Hey kutti, don't climb that .... Oh God!" Santhosh was gone again. Professor was now feeling helpless. Time was moving ahead.

After another minute, Santhosh came back to the line. "Sorry prof!"

"You idiot! I need Rs.10000 urgently in my HDFC bank account. There's an ECS pending mid-night, and I already missed it twice in the past year. I don't want my name in CIBIL and get into more troubles with loans in future. You got it? Can you transfer now or not? I'm running out of time!" Professor blasted his friend in muted anger.

"Cool down buddy. I'll do it right away. Ok then, how is..."

"Fine, I'm in the mid of a session. Talk to you in a minute. Be on the line."

---

"Please open your eyes. See, how you feel? What happened to you? What happened in this world that you missed? Nothing! So, remember, time is an illusion!"

Santhosh was chuckling on the other side of the phone.

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