“Three hundred likes” I pointed out a photograph I had posted on Facebook to Lulu, my parrot. “I can’t believe it.”

Lulu moved from the edge of the table and hopped on in front of my laptop. He took a good look of the screen. “The little school girl is receiving an award from you. She is the cynosure of all eyes, not you!”

“You don’t miss a chance to take a dig at me. Yes, it was prize distribution ceremony at a village school. I was the Chief Guest. I gave away prizes to students.”

“You are giving a broad smile; the girl is happy. Perhaps she has not fully understood the importance of the award.”

“I guess so. I like the innocence of these kids who are in the Kindergarten.”

“I think adults envy the innocence of the children.”

“And they fear it too. We feel that a crook might take undue advantage of their innocence.”

“That is only partly true. In my eyes you men are jealous of the innocence of the child.”

“Why should we? What are you saying?”

“Those who believe in Skinnerism then take control of your lives. As you grow, you crave for rewards.”

“You mean ‘If you do this, you will get that?’”

“Yes, you got it right.”

“The entire corporate world runs on it.”

“The corporate world pretends to use latest research, but actually practise Skinner’s teachings.”

“Parents use it too. I think the world enjoys destroying our innocence.”

“Forget the methods of the world. As you grow you lose your ignorance. A child’s innocence is associated with ignorance.”

“True people gain knowledge. And a few become wise.”

“Do you know who is called ‘wise’?”

“Tell me.”

“Those who regain their innocence, but it is now associated with knowledge and not ignorance.”

“Knowledge?”

“The real knowledge is the knowledge about self. A wise man’s innocence is associated with knowledge of the self.”

“So that’s the journey – from innocence with ignorance to innocence with knowledge. Tough it must be.”

“Yes, it is difficult. And you have a choice of not taking it. You can choose to chase rewards dangled by others. Regaining innocence is the choice for transformation.”

“I hope the little girl realizes this early on in her life. But her life like ours…”

“Every life is march from innocence, through temptation, to virtue or vice.” Lulu said he was quoting Lyman Abbott as he closed the laptop, and hopped away. His words left me thinking about my life for a long time. I did not realise that Lulu, my parrot, was watching me from a distance.

Vivek S Patwardhan​ 

“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”

Inspired by teachings of Osho