The Past and the Present

As I slip into my solitude and retreat into myself , a multitude of thoughts run over me and i scramble frantically to handle them. The time around me rushes ahead at a furious pace as if in a hurry to catch a missing train. It speeds along, taking me with it. It does not take a break, neither does it give me one, it cannons along as if to fulfill a preordained appointment. In a bat of an eyelid days become weeks, weeks become months, months become years and i realize that i have come a long way and i look behind in awe at the distance travelled and sometimes fail to recognize my image in the past. As I realise how fast time flies by I ponder over the past , the present and how they get connected. What is this Past? How is it related to the present? What does it signify? These are some of the questions that get hurled at my ignorant mind to ponder.

The past gives rise to the present and the future runs from this present and together all three are inexplicably intertwined. Past actions and their consequences reflect on our state in the present and the actions of the present reflect in our future. We remember the past, experience the present and look forward to the future. Together they form the three edges of life's triangle.

In experiencing the present we sometimes forget the past and give no heed to it, as if indulging in the newly arrived guest ignoring your old parent. But still the past clings onto you like a good friend, there at every one of your beck and call, not changing a bit, ever the same. Whereas the present is a wily foe changing colours like a chameleon, slipping out of your grasp, always keeping you guessing.

We romanticize the past and praise it in Utopian terms. But didn't you curse that same past when you experienced it? Why does it look so rosy and perfect now? Maybe the present holds aloft a crystal clear mirror which shows up all the bad that exists in and around you and you curse it. In contrast, the past is like the shadow you cast , you only see a beautiful outline of yours, ignoring all your warts, inconruencies and miseries and so you fall in love with it. Probably that's why the past appears more attractive than it actually was when experienced. Hence we idealize the past and curse the present and say that everything was perfect in the past. The truth however is that we tend to ignore the ills of the past and remember only the good. The past is in our control and we see in it what we want to see. The mind plays tricks and we fall for it.

Whatever be the case, we all love to love the past. Sometimes the day-to-day drudgery of life becomes mundane and the present loses some of its dynamicity and lustre and i look back to the bygone past and get immersed in past events like in a trance and they in turn blow life into the dull present which again becomes lively.